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Release Date: August 22, 2006
Release Number: 06-1490-SAN (SF-108)
Contact Name: David James/Gloria Della
Phone Number: 202.693.4676/202.693.8664
San Francisco, California - The U.S.
Department of Labor has obtained a judgment appointing an independent
fiduciary to distribute more than $149,500 in assets to 19 participants
of the 401(k) plan of defunct Alameda, California-based RadixOne. The
technology firm, formerly known as ReSolutions Group, closed in 2003.
The judgment also prohibits Richard Baldyga, the
former president and CEO of RadixOne, from serving for one year as a
plan fiduciary to any employee benefit plan governed by the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). He also must pay the costs of
the independent fiduciary, Nicholas Saakvitne, and any bond required by
the law.
The judgment resolves a lawsuit alleging that Baldyga
violated ERISA when he failed to distribute plan assets to certain
former employees after making distributions to him and other
participants. The judgment, entered in U.S. District Court in San
Francisco, resulted from an investigation conducted by the San Francisco
regional office of the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA).
“The Labor Department is committed to helping
workers whose plans are abandoned,” said Ann L. Combs, assistant
secretary of labor for EBSA. “This order means the former employees of
RadixOne will be able to access to their hard-earned retirement
benefits.”
To assist workers in similar situations, the Labor
Department has published rules to facilitate a voluntary, safe and
efficient process for winding up the affairs of abandoned plans. The new
rules, which went into effect May 22, allow financial institutions to
take responsibility and distribute the assets of 401(k) plans to
affected workers and their families. The department estimates that 1,650
such plans are abandoned each year. Information about the new rules is
available under the Abandoned Plan Program section of EBSA’s Web site
at www.dol.gov/ebsa.
Employers and workers with questions or concerns
regarding their private-sector pension and health plans can contact EBSA’s
regional office in San Francisco at 415.975.4600 or 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. Baldyga)
Civil Action No. 3:06-cv-3568
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