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Release Date: 01/13/2000 Release
Number:V-73 Contact Name: Rita Ford Phone
Number:202.219.8921 |
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Kent Sarius, an administrator of an employee
benefit plan in Franklin Park, Ill., was sued by the Labor Department on Jan.
13 for allegedly using the plans money to pay himself and his wife a
monthly salary for more than seven years. |
The lawsuit alleged that Sarius, who administered
The Independent Contract Mail Drivers Association Dental Assist Fund,
used the funds money to pay himself a salary of $150 per month from
January 1995 to February 1999, and to pay his wife, Denise Sarius, $350 per
month from January 1995 to approximately December 1998. |
The Dental Assist Fund was established in 1990 by
the Independent Contract Mail Drivers Association, a Franklin Park, Ill.,
labor union that provided dental benefits to its members. As of September 1996,
the most recent date that figures are available, the fund covered 180 employees
and had assets totaling more than $4,000. |
It is alleged that payments to Sarius and his wife
violated the prohibited transaction provisions of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act (ERISA), as well as provisions that prohibit self-dealing
on the part of a plan administrator. |
The lawsuit seeks to permanently bar Sarius from
serving as a plan administrator for any plan covered under the federal pension
law and orders him to restore to the Dental Fund any losses, including
interest, that have resulted from his breaches. |
The lawsuit resulted from an investigation by the
Chicago Regional Office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into
violations of ERISA. It was filed in the federal district court in Chicago,
Ill. |
Herman v. Kent Sarius et al Civil Action No.
00C-0237 |
U.S. Department of
Labor news releases are accessible on the Internet. The information in this
news release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large
print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the Central Office for Assistive
Services and Technology. Please specify which news release when placing your
request. Call 202.693.7773 or TTY 202.693.7775. |
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