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Compliance December 9, 2013
American Samoan Plan Sponsor Failed to Administer Plan
December 9, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The Department of Labor (DOL) obtained a court order assigning a new fiduciary for a retirement plan sponsored by an employer in American Samoa.
Reported by Kevin McGuinness
A lawsuit was filed by the DOL in April, Perez v. Samoa Aviation Inc. (Docket No.: 13-CV-00674-CJC (PLAx)), in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of the participants of the Samoa Aviation Inc. 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan.
As a fiduciary of the plan, Samoa Aviation Inc. failed to administer the plan, resulting in participants being unable to obtain distributions of their individual plan accounts. The plan had 53 participants and assets totaling $235,693 as of June 30.
In response to the DOL’s suit, the District Court entered a default judgment and order against Samoa Aviation Inc., which removed it from serving as the plan’s fiduciary and appointed an independent fiduciary to administer the plan and distribute the assets to the participants.
The full text of the court’s judgment and order document can be downloaded here.