Archived News Release Caution: Information may be out of date.
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Release Date: 10/30/2001 Release
Number: 01-181 Contact Name: Jeannine Lupton Phone Number: 206.553.7620 |
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Los Angeles, California - The U.S. Department of Labor
has obtained consent judgments from a software company and two of its former
executives. One consent judgment was entered on October 29, 2001, with
Defendants Robert Mowry; Uni Prise Systems, Inc., a California corporation; and
Uni Prise Systems, Inc., Retirement Plan. A second consent judgment was filed
on September 20, 2001, with Defendant Joseph Perry, Uni Prises former
director/president. |
The October 29, 2001, judgment enjoins Robert
Mowry, Uni Prises former chief executive officer and majority shareholder
of Uni Prise, and Uni Prise from serving as fiduciaries to any employee pension
benefit plan for twenty years. |
The September 20, 2001, judgment enjoins Joseph
Perry from serving as a fiduciary to any employee pension benefit plan for five
years. The $7,622 in losses to the plan were also restored in full by
Perry. |
The judgments resolve a lawsuit filed on April 4,
2001, against Uni Prise Systems, Inc.; Robert Mowry; and Joseph Perry for
violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). As
alleged in the U.S. Department of Labors complaint, the violations of
ERISA occurred when Uni Prise, Mowry and Perry failed to forward contributions
withheld from employee paychecks to the plan. |
According to the complaint, Mowry exercised the
ultimate authority in deciding whether employee contributions were forwarded to
the plan or used to pay other Uni Prise business expenses. Mowry was also an
individual acting on behalf of Uni Prise as the plan administrator. Also,
according to the complaint, Perry ran the daily operations of Uni Prise and had
the authority to decide whether employee contributions were forwarded to the
plan or used to pay other Uni Prise expenses. Perry was also an individual
acting on behalf of Uni Prise as the plan administrator. |
This court action was a result of an investigation
conducted by the Los Angeles Regional Office of PWBA, headed by Billy Beaver.
It is part of an ongoing initiative to insure compliance with ERISA fiduciary
standards with respect to timely deposit of employees contributions to
401(k) plans. |
Beaver said, This case exemplifies our
commitment to protect the hard-earned benefits of workers. Workers can help us
protect their plan benefits by contacting our office at
626.229.1000 if they
have questions or suspect abuse of their pension, health or other benefit
plans. |
The consent judgments were entered on October 29,
2001, and September 20, 2001, in the U.S. District Court for the Central
District of California. |
(Chao v. Robert Mowry, et al.
Civil Action No.
01cv00378) |
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. |
Archived News Release Caution: Information may be out of date.
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