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Release Date: 03/15/2000 Release Number:
V-129 Contact Name: Rita Ford Phone Number: 202.219.8921 |
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Kent Sarius, an administrator of an employee
benefit plan for a labor union in Franklin Park, Ill., was ordered to restore
$7,000 to the plan in a consent order and judgment obtained by the U.S.
Department of Labor. |
The consent order and judgment resolved a lawsuit
brought by the department on Jan. 13 as a result of an investigation by the
Chicago Regional Office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into
violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). |
The lawsuit alleged that Sarius violated the
prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA and provisions that prohibit
self-dealing by using money from The Independent Contract Mail Drivers
Association Dental Assist Fund to pay himself a monthly salary of $150 from
January 1995 to February 1999, and to pay his wife, Denise, a monthly salary of
$350 from January 1995 to approximately December 1998. |
The Dental Assist Fund was established in 1990 by
the Independent Contract Mail Drivers Association to provide dental
benefits to its members. The fund covered 180 employees and had assets totaling
approximately $4,000 as of September 1996. |
The consent order and judgment were entered on
Mar. 15 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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