Compliance January 9, 2013
Source HR to Restore Assets to Welfare Plans
January 9, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com ) - Source HR, LLC agreed to restore a total of $24,062.25 to its employee welfare benefit plans following a Department of Labor (DOL) lawsuit.
Reported by Jay Polansky
The lawsuit based on the findings of an investigation by the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) alleged that Austin Ritter, the president and sole owner of Source HR, committed fiduciary breaches by earning insurance commission income from insurance carriers that provided coverage to the plans in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
The consent order and judgment finds Source HR and Ritter liable to the plans for $24,062.25, representing $20,784.47 in insurance commissions owed to the plans and $3,277.78 in lost opportunity costs, and orders Source HR to restore these losses. Source HR and Ritter have also been permanently barred from serving as fiduciaries or service providers to any employee benefit plan subject to ERISA.
The plans had 28 participants during the period of May 1, 2007, through March 20, 2011, and provided benefits under U.S. Health & Life Insurance Company and Liberty Union Life Assurance Company.
The consent order and judgment finds Source HR and Ritter liable to the plans for $24,062.25, representing $20,784.47 in insurance commissions owed to the plans and $3,277.78 in lost opportunity costs, and orders Source HR to restore these losses. Source HR and Ritter have also been permanently barred from serving as fiduciaries or service providers to any employee benefit plan subject to ERISA.
The plans had 28 participants during the period of May 1, 2007, through March 20, 2011, and provided benefits under U.S. Health & Life Insurance Company and Liberty Union Life Assurance Company.