Labor Department Sues New York Trustee over Misuse of 401(k) Assets

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

New York, New York - The U.S. Department of Labor is filing suit against James C. Docster, a trustee of the Dodge-Markham Co. 401(k) plan located in Conklin, New York, for failure to timely forward employee contributions to the plan and misusing the assets for the benefit of the company, according to a lawsuit filed on May 30, 2001.

The 401(k) plan covers approximately 66 employees of Dodge-Markham Company, Inc. and its subsidiaries DDW Forms Groups, Direct Business Products, Precision Time Cards, and JD Associates. It is a defined contribution pension plan which allows employees to make voluntary contributions.

The Labor Department lawsuit alleges that Docster violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by failing to forward to the plan some employee contributions starting in March 1995. As of April 30, 1997, the plan had approximately $166,190 in assets.

The lawsuit seeks a court order to require that Docster correct any prohibited transactions involving the plan and restore all losses, with interest, suffered by the plan as a result of his improper actions. The department also asks the court to permanently bar Docster from serving as a fiduciary or service provider for any plan covered by ERISA.

This case, filed in federal district court for the northern district of New York, resulted from an investigation conducted by the Boston Regional Office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into alleged violations of ERISA. According to Regional Director James Benages, “This case reaffirms our commitment to protect workers’ hard-earned benefits. Workers can help us protect their benefits by contacting our office at 617.565.9600 if they have questions or suspect abuse of their pension, health or other benefit plans.”

(Chao v. Docster
Civil Action No. 3:01-CV-827)

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.