Owner of Defunct Minnesota Printing Company To Repay Over $45,000 to 401(K) Plan

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Minneapolis, Minnesota - The U.S. Department of Labor obtained a court judgment on September 30, requiring the owner of Advanced Duplicating & Printing, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota to pay $45,535 in restitution to the company’s 401(k) plan for failure to remit employee contributions and loan payments to the plan during his tenure as a trustee.

“Our action today restores to the plan assets that were improperly used to benefit the employer and makes assets available to pay benefits owed to workers,” said Kansas City Regional Director Gregory Egan.

The judgment also requires that defendant Charles Rolfes be permanently barred from serving as a fiduciary to any plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Further, the judgment orders Rolfes to offset his plan account to reimburse the plan, reimburse the plan for any amount owed in excess of his plan account, and to terminate the plan.

The Labor Department sued Rolfes on July 17 for failure to remit employee contributions and loan payments to the plan over the period January 2000 to October 2001 and for commingling the plan’s assets with those of the company. Rolfes also failed to obtain a fidelity bond as required by law.

Advanced Duplicating & Printing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 12, 2001 and ceased business operations in June of that year. The plan covered as many as 44 participants and had $1,088,534 in assets as of December 31, 1999.

The judgment, entered in federal district court in Minneapolis, Minnesota, resulted from an investigation conducted by the Kansas City Regional Office of the department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (EBSA).

Egan noted that employers with similar problems, who are not yet the subject of an investigation by EBSA, may be eligible to participate in the Department's Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). Participation in the VFCP requires employers to make workers whole but allows them to avoid EBSA enforcement actions and civil penalties as well as any applicable excise taxes.

"The VFCP gives plan sponsors a way to come into compliance with ERISA by restoring workers' benefits while avoiding an investigation by EBSA, said Egan. It protects workers' health and retirement benefits and allows us to focus our resources on those who seek to avoid compliance." For more information about the VFCP see www.dol.gov/ebsa.

Employers and workers can reach the Kansas City Regional Office at 816.426.5131 or EBSA’s Toll-Free Employee & Employer Hotline number, 1.866.275.7922, for help with problems relating to private-sector pension and health plans.

(Chao v. Rolfes
Civil Action No. 02-1770 PAM/RLE)

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