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Release Date: August 11, 2008
Release Number: 08-1110-ATL (177)
Contact Name: Michael Wald
Phone Number: 404.562.2076
Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has
sued Timothy Steinkamp, a corporate officer of defunct Broward Removal
Services and Broward Trade Services Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when
he failed to remit employee contributions owed to the company’s 401(k)
plan.
“This money belongs to the employees to pay for
their future retirement, and it is unacceptable for a corporate
executive to divert plan funds to benefit the company sponsoring the
plan,” said Rebecca Marshall, director of the Atlanta Regional Office
of the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA),
which investigated this case.
The suit alleges that Steinkamp withheld $19,189 from
employees’ salaries between January 2005 and April 2006, but failed to
segregate the funds from those of the former company, and did not
forward the money to the plan. The company also allegedly withheld
$4,783 in participant loan repayments to the plan, failed to segregate
that money from the company’s general assets and did not forward it to
the plan. The Labor Department seeks to recover assets owed to the plan
plus earnings the funds would have received if the assets had been
prudently managed.
In addition, the suit seeks to remove the defendant
as a plan fiduciary, bar him from serving as fiduciary of any ERISA-covered
plan, and appoint a successor fiduciary to receive any funds recovered
and distribute any proceeds to the seven participants.
Broward Removal Services and Broward Trade Services
Inc. held contracts with Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and several
additional counties in central Florida to pick up and transport the
deceased. The company also provided transportation and mortuary services
for funeral homes.
Employers and workers can reach EBSA’s Atlanta
Regional Office at 404.302.3900 or toll-free at 866.444.3272 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. Timothy L. Steinkamp
(Civil Action File Number: 08-cv-61215-KMM)
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