U.S. Department of Labor Obtains Consent Order and Judgment To Restore Assets to Participants in Ohio Employee Benefit Plans

DAYTON, OH – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio issued a consent order and judgment requiring the fiduciaries of Day-Mont Behavioral Health Care Inc. to restore $141,666 to the defunct Dayton, Ohio-based company’s employee benefit health and annuity plans. The mental health services provider ceased operations in 2018.

EBSA investigators found that fiduciaries Gayle Johnson, Akil Sharif and Day-Mont Behavioral Health Care Inc. violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by failing to remit employee contributions to its annuity and health plans.

“The consent order and judgment ensures that employees who participated in Day-Mont Behavioral Health Care Inc.’s employee benefit plans will have access to their hard-earned retirement benefits and have their medical claims paid as they expected when they contributed their earnings to these plans,” said Employee Benefits Security Administration Regional Director L. Joe Rivers, in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Fiduciaries must work solely in the interest of plans and participants.”

Under the terms of the consent order and judgment, the fiduciaries will restore $64,582 to the Day-Mont West Tax-Deferred Annuity Plan. These monies are due to any individuals who were employees of Day-Mont and Annuity Plan participants from January 13, 2012, through August 5, 2016. The fiduciaries will restore these monies to employees who had voluntary employee contributions withheld from their pay that the company failed to remit to the annuity plan, or did not remit in a timely manner.

Additionally, the fiduciaries will remit $77,084 to the participants of the Day-Mont Behavioral Health Care Inc. Employee Benefit Plan – a healthcare plan. These monies are due to any individuals, except the defendants, who were employees of Day-Mont Behavioral Health Care Inc., and participants in its health plan from February 20, 2015, through July 21, 2016. The fiduciaries will restore these monies to employees who have had either voluntary employee premium contributions withheld from their pay for contribution to the health plan during this period that were not remitted to the Health Plan, or had unpaid medical claims that should have been paid by the health plan, or both.

The fiduciaries will also pay a civil money penalty of $28,333 for willful violations of ERISA.

The court has permanently enjoined both Johnson and Sharif from acting as service providers or fiduciaries to any ERISA-covered plan in the future.

AMI Benefit Plan Administrators Inc., of Youngstown, Ohio, will serve as the independent fiduciary to allocate and distribute the recovered funds.

EBSA’s Cincinnati office investigated the case.

Employers and workers can reach EBSA toll-free at 866-444-3272 for help with problems related to private sector retirement and health plans. Additional information can be found at https://www.dol.gov/ebsa.

EBSA is committed to educating and assisting the nearly 149 million workers, retirees, and their families covered by approximately 703,000 private retirement plans, 2.3 million health plans, and similar numbers of other welfare benefit plans holding approximately $9.9 trillion in assets; as well as plan sponsors and members of the employee benefits community. EBSA balances proactive enforcement with compliance assistance and works diligently to provide quality assistance to plan participants and beneficiaries. It is the policy of EBSA to provide the highest quality of service to its customers

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.

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Scalia v. Day-Mont Behavioral Health Care Inc., Day-Mont West Tax-Deferred Annuity Plan, Day-Mont Behavioral Health Care Inc. Employee Benefit Plan, Gayle Johnson, Akil Sharif

Civil Action No. 3:18-cv-00242-TMR