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Release Date: September 13, 2006
Release Number: 06-1535-ATL (191)
Contact Name: Dan Fuqua
Phone Number: 404.562.2078
Covington, Kentucky - The U.S. Department of
Labor has obtained a consent judgment requiring Mitchell Molding Company
Inc., Hebron, Kentucky, and its bankrupt former owner to restore
delinquent employee contributions to the company’s 401(k) plan.
“The Labor Department will act when plan
fiduciaries fail to carry out their duties to protect plan assets held
on behalf of participants,” said Joseph Menez, director of the
Cincinnati regional office of the department’s Employee Benefits
Security Administration (EBSA), which investigated the case.
The department’s lawsuit alleged that Mitchell
Molding and John P Chalfant of Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, violated the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when they failed to
timely remit employee contributions to the plan at various times between
January 6 and June 29, 2000, and failed to remit any employee
contributions made between July 6, 2000 and March 27, 2003.
Under the judgment, entered in federal district court
in Covington, Kentucky, the company and Chalfant must restore to the
plan $1,513 in delinquent and untimely employee contributions. Mitchell
Molding was in the business of plastic injection molding. The 401(k)
plan covered five participants and had assets of $8,455 as of March 31,
2004.
In fiscal year 2005, EBSA achieved monetary results
of $1.7 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits
for millions of American workers and their families.
Employers with similar problems, who are not yet the
subject of an EBSA investigation, may be eligible to participate in the
department’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP).
Participation in the VFCP requires employers to correct violations of
the law but allows them to avoid EBSA enforcement actions and civil
penalties as well as any applicable excise taxes. For more information
about the VFCP, see www.dol.gov/ebsa.
Employers and workers can reach the Cincinnati office
of the EBSA at 859.578.4680 or through EBSA’s toll-free number,
1.866.444.EBSA (3272), for help with problems relating to private-sector
retirement and health plans.
(Chao v. Mitchell Molding Company Inc.)
Civil Action No. 05-235-DLB
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