US Department of Labor files complaint to recover more than $36,000 for Jomar Building Company 401(k) Plan

Date of Action:  Aug. 8, 2011

Type of Action: Complaint

Names of Defendants:  Odell Jones, III; Cecily Hoagland; and Jomar Building Company 401(k) Plan located in Detroit, Mich.

Allegations: The Jomar Building Company, Inc. sponsored the Jomar Building Company, Inc. 401(k) Plan and the Jomar Building Company, Inc. Benefit Plan, which provided health care benefits.  The company filed for bankruptcy and closed operations in March 2008.  At all relevant times, defendant Odell Jones, III was the president and sole owner of the Jomar Building Company and a fiduciary and party in interest to the 401(k) Plan and Benefit Plan.  At all relevant times, defendant Cecily Hoagland was the vice-president of the company, the spouse of Jones and a fiduciary and party in interest to the 401(k) Plan.

During the period Jan. 12, 2007, through March 14, 2008, the company withheld from employees’ pay pre-tax contributions totaling $39,624.90 in participant contributions and $9,654.92 in participant loan repayments to the 401(k) Plan and failed to remit the amounts so withheld to the 401(k) Plan’s accounts.  The company retained in its own general assets the salary reduction contributions to the 401(k) Plan withheld from employees’ pay.  Jones caused the company to retain the salary reduction contributions to the 401(k) Plan and failed to ensure the amounts withheld from employees’ pay were deposited in the 401(k) Plan’s accounts.  Hoagland failed to ensure that the amounts withheld from employees’ pay were deposited in the 401(k) Plan’s accounts.

During the period from Jan. 4, 2008, through March 14, 2008, the company withheld $1,755.47 in employee health premium contributions and failed to remit them to the Jomar Building Company Inc. Benefit Plan or the insurance carriers.  Jones caused the company to retain the participant contributions for health premiums in the company’s corporate account and failed to ensure that the amounts so withheld from employees’ pay were remitted for health care coverage.

Court:  United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Detroit, Mich.

Docket Number:  2:11-cv-13906

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U.S. Department of Labor materials are accessible at www.dol.gov.  The information above is available in large print, Braille, audio tape or disc from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.