BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Fathalla M. Mashali, owner and president of the now defunct Northern Rhode Island Anesthesia Associates P.C. and its subsidiaries, for failing to forward more than $6 million in contributions plus interest owed to the company’s pension plan, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The company operated subsidiaries throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration Phyllis C. Borzi will hold a conference call with members of the media on Nov. 16, to discuss a nationwide enforcement initiative to protect the retirement and health benefits of workers. The employee contributions initiative protects contributions deducted from workers’ paychecks by ensuring that the funds are deposited into their plans in order to pay future benefits.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The U. S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) today announced that Kim Ghi Martin was sentenced to three months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $56,957.18 in restitution.

EUGENE, Ore. – C&K Market Inc. of Brookings, Ore., has agreed to restore $3 million in cash plus interest and to sell property owned by the C&K Market Inc. 401(k) plan, among other steps, in order to make restitution for a series of imprudent loans made with plan assets in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. C&K Market operates approximately 50 supermarkets in southern Oregon and northern California.

PORTLAND, Ore. – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a default judgment ordering Skinner Bonding of Oregon Inc. and Mary Anne Skinner, the company’s former owner and president, to restore $177,807 to the company’s salary savings and profit-sharing plan.

WASHINGTON – The U. S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) will hold a public hearing Dec. 7, 2010, on issues relating to disclosure of fees, conflicts of interest and other information by service providers to health, disability, severance and other employee welfare benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to fiduciaries of such plans.

HUDSON, Wis. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Miller Homes of Hudson LLC and the company’s former vice president, Leo Draveling, seeking restitution of $21,716.10 in voluntary employee contributions plus loss interest to the company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement accounts. The case resulted from an investigation by the department into alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

RHINELAND, Mo. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued the owner of defunct Lensing Earthworks Inc. of Rhineland for allegedly paying operating expenses using employee contributions to the company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement accounts.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The current and former trustees of several retirement, health and welfare plans of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union No. 99 in Cranston, R.I., were ordered to repay $439,755.62 to the plans as restitution for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, according to a consent order and judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor.

DOVER, Del. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued David Owen, the former president of defunct Owen Printing Dover Inc., for failure to remit employee contributions to the company’s 401(k) plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Washington – The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced a proposed rule to update the definition of "fiduciary" to more broadly define the term as a person who provides investment advice to plans for a fee or other compensation.

New York – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Beacon Associates Management Corp., Andover Associates Management Corp., Ivy Asset Management LLC, J.P. Jeanneret Associates Inc. and the principals of the four companies for causing dozens of pension, health and other employee benefit plan clients to lose hundreds of millions of dollars through investments with Bernard L. Madoff and his firm.

Washington – The U.S. Department of Labor and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants today launched a new, interactive website to help small businesses select a retirement plan suitable for their employees.

The website, "Choosing A Retirement Solution for Your Small Business" – available at http://www.choosingaretirementsolution.org. – was jointly developed and is co-sponsored by the Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration and the AICPA.

WASHINGTON – Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, will hold an Oct. 21 conference call with members of the media to discuss a proposed rule to amend the regulatory definition of the term “fiduciary” under section 3(21) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The proposed amendment would better reflect the current practices of investment advisers and the expectations of plan officials and participants who receive investment advice.

WASHINGTON – The Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans – known as the ERISA Advisory Council – will meet Nov. 3-4, at the U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Room C-5515-1A, in Washington, D.C.

COSHOCTON, Ohio – A federal district court in Columbus, Ohio, has entered a consent order and judgment requiring Barbara Elise Miller, an executive of Three Rivers Option Care in Coshocton, to repay $78,562.81 in employee contributions and lost opportunity costs to the participants and beneficiaries of the company’s savings investment match plan for employees individual retirement account plan. The judgment follows an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor into alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced a final rule to give the estimated 72 million participants covered by 401(k)-type retirement plans greater information regarding the fees and expenses associated with their plans in order to better manage their retirement savings.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A federal district court in Missouri has appointed the law firm of Spencer Fane Britt & Brown LLP of Overland Park, Kan., to manage the abandoned Lone Wolf Enterprises 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan, wind down the affairs of the plan and distribute its assets to eligible participants and service providers, according to a consent decree obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts seeking the appointment of an independent fiduciary to oversee the abandoned 401(k) plan of defunct Accurate Paving Inc., formerly located in Medford, Mass.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a court order appointing an independent fiduciary to manage the 401(k) plan of defunct Miller Agency Inc. of Shelton, Conn.