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Release Date: May 10, 2006
Release Number: 06-720-PHI (EBSA 053)
Contact Name: Kate Dugan
Phone Number: 215.861.5101
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The U.S.
Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in
Alexandria, Virginia, against the trustees of Columbia Services Groups
Inc. for failure to remit employee contributions and loan repayments to
the company’s 401(k) plan. Columbia was a government contractor that
provided information technology assistance to the federal government.
The suit alleges that trustees Emmet Anderson and
Michelle Marks violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
by failing to remit employee withholdings and loan repayments to an
employee pension benefit plan during the period May 2004 through June
2005. Anderson is the company’s president and Marks is executive vice
president of human resources.
“Trustees of a 401(k) plan have a responsibility to
ensure that the assets of the plan are used solely to benefit
participants,” said Mabel Capolongo, regional director of the
department’s Philadelphia office of the Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA). “One of the most important responsibilities is
putting money from workers’ wages into their 401(k) accounts on time.”
The lawsuit asks that the trustees restore any losses
owed to the plan, be removed as fiduciaries, replaced by an independent
fiduciary to manage plan assets, and permanently barred from fiduciary
service to any other plan in the future. In a separate adversary legal
action against Anderson, who filed personal bankruptcy, the department
is seeking to have his debt to the plan deemed non-dischargeable.
The suit resulted from an investigation conducted by
EBSA’s Washington District office. Employers and workers needing help
with problems related to private-sector retirement and health plans can
reach the Washington District office at 301.713.2000 or call EBSA’s
toll-free number 1.866.444.EBSA (3272).
In fiscal year 2005, EBSA achieved monetary results
of $1.7 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits
for millions of American workers and their families.
(Chao v. Columbia Services Groups, Inc.)
Civil Action No. 1:06-CV-433
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