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Release Date: March 30, 2009
Release Number: 09-325-BOS/BOS 2009-082
Contact Name: John M. Chavez
Phone Number: 617.565.2075
Boston – Matthew G. Hillery, president and
sole officer of defunct Solid Sense Systems Corp. of Waltham,
Massachusetts, has agreed to restore more than $25,000 to the
company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual
retirement account (SIMPLE IRA) under a consent judgment obtained by the
U.S. Department of Labor. The judgment resolves a lawsuit that alleged
he violated his duty as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Massachusetts, the suit alleged that the company failed to forward to
the plan $19,894 in contributions withheld from employees’ paychecks
beginning in April 2003. The company ceased operations in October 2006.
Hillery, as functional fiduciary of the plan, also allegedly failed to
ensure that employee contributions were properly forwarded to the plan.
The Solid Sense Systems Corp. SIMPLE IRA, established
on January 1, 2000, was set up to provide retirement benefits for the
exclusive benefit of its participants, the employees of Solid Sense
Systems Corp.
“This defendant failed to discharge his fiduciary
duties to the plan and its participants,” said Jean Ackerman, regional
director of the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA) in Boston. “The funds of employee benefit plans
are to be used for the sole benefit of plan participants and
beneficiaries, and not for the benefit of the company that sponsors the
plan.”
The department’s judgment orders Hillery to pay to
the plan $19,894 in restitution, plus $5,237 in lost opportunity costs
and post-judgment interest. The defendant also must ensure that plan
participants receive their proper shares of these payments and provide
proof of the payments to the Labor Department.
This case was investigated by EBSA’s Boston
Regional Office, which can by reached at 617.565.9600. Employers and
workers may also call toll-free at 866.444.3272 for help with problems
relating to private sector pension and health plans. In fiscal year
2008, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.2 billion related to pension,
401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American workers and
their families. Additional information can be found at www.dol.gov/ebsa.
Solis v. Matthew G. Hillery
Civil Action Number: 1:09-CV-10344-GAO
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