WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation today released advance informational copies of the 2013 Form 5500 annual return/report and related instructions.  Modifications to the Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF and their schedules and instructions for plan year 2013 are described under "Changes to Note" in the 2013 instructions, including:

Date of Action: Nov. 21, 2013

Type of Action: Default Judgment and Order

Name(s) of Defendant: Samoa Aviation Inc., Samoa Aviation Inc. 401 (k) Profit Sharing Plan

Allegations: As a fiduciary of the plan, defendant Samoa Aviation Inc. failed to administer the plan, resulting in participants not being able to obtain distributions of their individual plan accounts. The plan had 53 participants and assets totaling $235,693 as of June 30.

Date of Action: Nov. 21, 2013

Type of Action: Consent Judgment and Order

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Covenant Equipment Corp., doing business as Wholesale Fork Lifts Inc., and Mark Sowka

NEW YORK – Following legal action by the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has appointed M. Larry Lefoldt as independent fiduciary to manage the 401(k) plan of the defunct Windswept Environmental Group Inc. of Holtsville. The department filed suit in December 2012, asking the court to appoint an independent fiduciary to administer the plan and distribute its assets to the plan’s participants and beneficiaries.

Date of Action: Nov. 18, 2013

Type of Action: Simultaneous Complaint and Consent Order

Names of Defendants: Andrew C. Rodabaugh, A.R.E. Machine Products Inc. and the A.R.E. Machine Products Inc. 401(k) Retirement Plan located in Louisville, Ky.

MILWAUKEE – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to recover funds from the fiduciaries of Omni Resources Inc., a Milwaukee-based information technology company. The suit alleges that Omni Resources’ plan fiduciaries authorized the sale of the company’s stock to the Omni Resources Employee Stock Ownership Plan for $13.7 million, which far exceeded its fair market value. The sale resulted in personal financial gain to company owner Veronica Mueller, who was also a fiduciary to the plan.

BALTIMORE – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued William Kristen Hathaway, former chief executive officer of Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc. and fiduciary to the company’s retirement plan, for failing to remit employee contributions, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. 

Date of Action: Oct. 10, 2013

Type of Action: Default Judgment

Name(s) of Defendant: Invenio Technologies Inc.

Date of Action: Nov. 13, 2013

Type of Action: Complaint

Name(s) of Defendants: Mark Pasdon, Oxygen Electronics LLC and the Oxygen Electronics LLC 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan  

Date of Action: November 1, 2013

Type of Action: Consent Judgment and Order

Name(s) of Defendant: Goldsmith, Prest & Ringwall, Inc., Calvin R. Goldsmith and Bruce D. Ringwall

WASHINGTON — The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury today jointly issued a final rule increasing parity between mental health/substance use disorder benefits and medical/surgical benefits in group and individual health plans.

CLEVELAND –The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a complaint on behalf of the Cleveland-based Attevo 401(k) retirement plan. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division in Cleveland, alleges improper use of pension funds and seeks to restore $123,338.85 to the plan.

Date of Action: Nov. 4, 2013

Type of Action: Consent Order and Judgment

Names of Defendant: Polaris America LLC; Christopher Filos; and the Polaris America LLC 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan

Date of Action: Oct. 1, 2013

Type of Action: Complaint

Names of Defendants: Welding Unlimited Inc.; David R. Shields; Welding Unlimited Inc. 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that Sunkist Growers Inc. and fiduciaries for the company's retirement plans were required to restore $1,620,420 in losses to employee benefit plans under the terms of a consent judgment and order. The decision, entered in the U.S.

Date of Action: Oct. 29, 2013

Type of Action: Complaint

Names of Defendants: Daniel Deighan, Timothy Deighan, Sunset Golf LLC, Revolution Golf LLC, Sunset Golf LLC 401(k) Employee Retirement Plan, and Sunset Golf LLC Group Health Plan

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that it obtained a consent order requiring the fiduciaries of the Parrot Cellular Employee Stock Ownership Plan to pay $4,181,818 to the plan. The settlement resolves a suit filed in April 2012 after an investigation by the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration found violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The department alleged that plan fiduciaries caused or permitted the ESOP to purchase Parrot Cellular stock for more than fair market value.

Date of Action: Oct. 22, 2013

Type of Action: Consent Order and Judgment

Names of Defendants: Bruce E. Spencer, Tannile Elizabeth Ortiz and Paul Olzeski, as fiduciaries to the Spencer & Associates, LLC Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plan.

WASHINGTON — A meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, known as the ERISA Advisory Council, will take place Monday, Nov. 4 from 1 p.m. — 5 p.m. EST. The meeting is open to the public and will be held in room 4 of suite C-5521, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20210. On Tuesday, Nov. 5, the meeting will be split into two sessions: the morning session will continue in room 4 of suite C-5521 from 8:30 a.m.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The U.S. Department of Labor has secured a consent judgment with former magazine publisher Twelve Signs Inc. and its president, Richard Housman. An investigation by the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration established that Housman, acting as the sole fiduciary to the employee pension plan, violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by mismanaging plan assets, resulting in the loss of $617,839. The judgment requires Housman to restore all losses caused to the plan, less his share.