Labor Department Sues Franklin Park, Ill., Plan Administrator For Using Fund Money To Pay Personal Salaries

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Kent Sarius, an administrator of an employee benefit plan in Franklin Park, Ill., was sued by the Labor Department on Jan. 13 for allegedly using the plan’s money to pay himself and his wife a monthly salary for more than seven years.

The lawsuit alleged that Sarius, who administered The Independent Contract Mail Drivers’ Association Dental Assist Fund, used the fund’s money to pay himself a salary of $150 per month from January 1995 to February 1999, and to pay his wife, Denise Sarius, $350 per month from January 1995 to approximately December 1998.

The Dental Assist Fund was established in 1990 by the Independent Contract Mail Drivers’ Association, a Franklin Park, Ill., labor union that provided dental benefits to its members. As of September 1996, the most recent date that figures are available, the fund covered 180 employees and had assets totaling more than $4,000.

It is alleged that payments to Sarius and his wife violated the prohibited transaction provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as well as provisions that prohibit self-dealing on the part of a plan administrator.

The lawsuit seeks to permanently bar Sarius from serving as a plan administrator for any plan covered under the federal pension law and orders him to restore to the Dental Fund any losses, including interest, that have resulted from his breaches.

The lawsuit resulted from an investigation by the Chicago Regional Office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into violations of ERISA. It was filed 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.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.