LABOR DEPARTMENT OBTAINS JUDGMENT BARRING FORT WAYNE TRUSTEE FROM PLAN MANAGEMENT

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The trustee of a 401(k) plan for a Fort Wayne, Ind., company was permanently barred from managing any plan covered under federal pension law and an independent fiduciary was appointed to manage the company plan’s assets, in a consent order and judgement obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Carol Cavell, trustee of the Interim Healthcare of Fort Wayne, Inc., 401(k) plan, named as a defendant in both the consent order and judgment and a simultaneous lawsuit, also forfeited $50,102.79 of contributions that were directed back to harmed participants.

The lawsuit alleged that Cavell failed to remit timely contributions to participants’ 401(k) accounts from October 1992 through September 1997 that were withheld through payroll deductions. Cavell also allegedly failed to hold the assets of the employees’ benefit plan in a trust separate from the assets of the employer’s general accounts. Both actions violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal pension law. Also named as defendants in the lawsuit were Interim Healthcare of Fort Wayne, Inc., the plan sponsor and administrator, and the corporation’s 401(k) plan.

Interim Healthcare of Fort Wayne is a home health care and medical personnel staffing company. The plan was established in 1991 by Interim to provide retirement, disability and death benefits to employees. The company filed for bankruptcy in September 1996, and the defendants were also ordered to pay $18,000 still owed the plan that will be remitted in compliance with the bankruptcy reorganization plan.

The actions resulted from an investigation by the Chicago Regional Office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into violations of ERISA. The lawsuit was filed on April 28 and the consent order and judgment was entered on April 29 in the federal district court in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Herman v. Interim Healthcare of Fort Wayne, Inc.
Civil Action No. 1:99CVO167

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Contact Name: Rita Ford
Phone Number: (202) 219-8921