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Release Date: February 20, 2008
Release Number: 08-206-KAN
Contact Name: Rich Kulczewski
Phone Number: 303.844.1302
Kansas City, Missouri – The U.S. Department
of Labor filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Kansas to appoint an independent fiduciary to oversee the abandoned
401(k) plan of defunct Professional Resources Inc., a technology
consulting company in Overland Park, Kansas.
The suit alleges that Raymond J. Jarrett Jr. owned
and operated Professional Resources Inc. and served as the plan’s
trustee until abandoning the plan after the company ceased operations in
2002. This situation left the plan’s 15 participants, mostly former
employees of the company, unable to access their accounts. When
abandoned, the plan had $45,000 in assets.
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act,
employee benefit plans must be managed by plan fiduciaries. In the
absence of a fiduciary, participants and beneficiaries cannot obtain
plan information or access accounts to make investments or collect
retirement benefits.
The Labor Department’s suit seeks to appoint an
independent fiduciary to manage the plan and distribute its assets, to
be followed by an orderly termination of the plan.
“When an employee benefit plan is abandoned, so are
the workers who invested in it,” said Steve Eischen, regional director
in Kansas City, Missouri, for the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits
Security Administration (EBSA). “We took this legal action to ensure
that the plan is properly managed and its participants gain access to
their retirement assets.”
This suit resulted from an investigation by EBSA’s
regional office in Kansas City. Employers and workers can contact the
office at 816.285.1800 or call EBSA toll-free at 866.444.3272 for help
with problems relating to private sector pension and health plans. In
fiscal year 2007, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.5 billion related
to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American
workers and their families.
Chao v. Professional Resources 401(k) Plan &
Trust
Civil Action Number: 08-CV-2007
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