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Release Date: January 16, 2008
Release Number: 08-51-CHI
Contact Name: Brad Mitchell/Scott Allen
Phone Number: 312.353.4807/312.353.6976
Columbus, Ohio – The U.S. Department of
Labor has reached agreement with John P. Verhoff and Aaron K. Gaynor,
officers of Precise Mechanicals Inc., Columbus, to restore employee
contributions to the company-sponsored 401(k) plan.
The consent judgment reached in federal district
court in Cincinnati, Ohio, calls for Verhoff and Gaynor to restore
$10,065.25 to the plan’s participants. The judgment resolves a Labor
Department lawsuit filed against the two company officers for allegedly
failing to remit employee contributions to the plan and commingling
those funds, deducted from employees’ paychecks, in a corporate
account.
“The department will act when plan fiduciaries fail
to carry out their duty to protect the retirement plan assets held on
behalf of participants,” said Joseph Menez, director of the department’s
Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Cincinnati Regional
Office.
The suit alleges that Verhoff and Gaynor, fiduciaries
of the plan, and president and vice president of the company
respectively, violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when
they failed to remit and segregate employee contributions owed to the
plan that were deducted from workers’ paychecks.
Employers with similar problems who are not yet the
subjects of EBSA investigations may be eligible to participate in the
department’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP).
Participation requires employers to make workers whole but allows them
to avoid EBSA enforcement actions and civil penalties as well as any
applicable excise taxes. For more information, see www.dol.gov/ebsa.
Employers and workers can reach EBSA’s Cincinnati
Regional Office at 859.578.4680 or through EBSA’s toll-free number,
1.866.444.EBSA (3272), for help with problems relating to private sector
retirement 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. Verhoff
Civil Action Number 2:07cv883
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