Pension Officials To Make Restitution To Illinois Pension Plan

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Executives of the Atols Tool & Mold Corp., located in Schiller Park, Illinois, agreed to repay $4,889.34 to the company’s cafeteria plans to benefit the company, under a consent order and judgment obtained March 30, 2001 by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The judgment also permanently bars defendants James Atols and Robert Atols from serving in positions of trust to any plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and requires them to terminate the plan and distribute its assets to eligible participants. Under a related settlement, the defendants agreed to repay $173,346.08 to the cafeteria and pension plan sponsored by the company.

The Labor Department sued the defendants on November 14, 2000 for violating their duties as members of the pension plan’s administrative committee and as fiduciaries of the cafeteria plan. According to the lawsuit, the defendants violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when they:

• Failed to timely deposit employee contributions and loan repayments into the pension plan’s accounts at various times during February 1997 to April 2000
• Retained employee contributions and loan repayments with the general assets of the corporation
• Failed to pay $3,055 in participant claims with respect to the cafeteria plan despite collecting $6,666.84 in employee contributions for the period January through May 2000
• Caused Atols Tool to retain employee contributions owed to the cafeteria plan in the general assets of the corporation without paying reimbursement claims.

The Atols Tool & Mold Corporation pension plan provides retirement benefits to 78 participants and had assets of $6,319,571 as of December 31, 1998. The cafeteria plan, which covered many of the same participants, was established in 1990 to provide medical and dependent care reimbursement accounts that are funded solely through employee contributions.

“This case exemplified our commitment to protect the benefits promised to employees," said Ken Bazar, director of the Chicago Regional Office of the Labor Department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA). “Employers and workers can reach us at 312.353.0900 for help with any problems relating to private-sector pension and health plans.”

The judgment, entered in federal district court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, resulted from an investigation conducted by the Chicago Regional Office of the department's Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into alleged violations of ERISA.

(Herman v. Atols
Civil Action No. 00C-7157)

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