U.S. Department of Labor General Allegations AGAINST Caleb A. Burris - NASPSO - NASPSO PENSION FUND - NASPSO HEALTH PLAN and TRUST
NASPSO is a Washington D.C. based Union that represents security guards in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area.
There are approximatly eight hundred members in NASPSO and has collective bargaining agreements with ten employers.
Caleb A. Burris established the NASPSO Pension Plan on or about June 2004, and since that time Burriss and NASPSO have been soley responsible for the administration of the Pension Plan and its assets.
THERE IS NO WRITTEN PENSION PLAN DOCUMENTS
NASPSO opened a Pension Plan account with Harbor Bank on or about June 16, 2004. The Pension Plan account is in the name of the National Association of Special Police & Security Officers Pension Fund account # (1100058674).
Harbor Bank is the custodian of assets belonging to the Pension Plan.
Three employers, SekTek, Deco and Ares Group, Inc executed contracts with the Federal government under the Service Contract Act. The agreements set minimum hourly wage rate and fringe benefit rates employers must pay to employees working under federal contract.
Caleb
A.
Gray
Burriss
The employers have also signed CBAs obligating them to pay the Pension Plan a set amount per hour worked. The employers have chosen to pay their required fringe benefits by paying into the NASPSO Pension Plan.
The Union member employees are immediately one hundred percent vested in the Pension Plan. In order to make a withdrawal from the Pension Plan, Union member employees would notify Caleb A. Burris and NASPSO of their intention to withdraw their pension assets.
Deco began making payments to the Pension Plan in June 2004. SekTek began making payments to the NASPSO Pension Plan in January 2005. Deco is the sole employer that currently contributes to the NASPSO Pension Plan.
Deco, SecTek, and Ares typically mailed checks to NASPSO on a monthly basis for contributions to the NASPSO Pension Plan. The employers generally sent contributions to NASPSO, along with the names of its employees and the contribution amounts for each employee. The pay stubs of the employees reflect the contributions amount forwarded by the employer for the NASPSO Pension Plan.
The checks sent by Deco, SecTek, and Ares were generally made payable directly to the NASPSO Pension Plan or alternatively, to NASPSO with the Pension Plan identified as the designated recipient on the memo line of the check.
Caleb A. Burris and NASPSO also have discretion and control over the NASPSO Health Plan and its assets.
Caleb A. Burris established and became the union trustee of the NASPSO Health Plan on January 1, 2006. Russell Stephens is the employer trustee. Stephens is President of Security Assurance Management, Inc. The Health Plan is intended to provide health and related benefits for union member employees. NASPSO is responsible for appointing, removing, and monitoring the trustees of the NASPSO Health Plan. The NASPSO Health Plan provides that the union trustee, Caleb A. Burris and the employer trustee, Russell Stephens, are the committee that runs the plan. The trustees are to take and hold any contributions to the Plan. The trustees then forward NASPSO Health Plan contributions to a third party administrator, FCE Benefits Administrators for payment of health claims.
SekTek and American Security are two employers that currently participate in and contribute to the NASPSO Health Plan.
FCE is a third part administrator located in Burlingame, California FCE, under the terms of its agreement with NASPSO, performs numerous delineated duties with respect to the administration of the NASPSO Health Plan.
SecTek and American Security generally forward their NASPSO Health Plan contributions to NASPSO on a monthly basis. Caleb A. Burris is responsible for forwarding the employers NASPSO Health Plan contributions to a Health Plan account with Harbor Bank. Caleb A. Burris transfers assets to FCE for administration and payment of claims under the NASPSO Health Plan.
Caleb A. BurrisHAS REPRESENTED that he has taken assets of the NASPSO Pension Plan, purchased certificates of deposits with the assets, and that these CDs are currently in the name of the Health Plan. The value of of the tree CDs amounts to approximately $45,000. The account numbers of these CDs, which are held at Harbor Bank, are as follows: 15025, 15054, and 15061.
Since September 2004, Caleb A. Burris has withdrawn a total of $ 95,997.73 from the NASPSO Pension Plan account. There has been twenty-one withdrawals payable to "CASH" Five to "Caleb A. Burris" and eleven payable to "NASPSO"
There has been a total of eleven checks or transfers directly from the NASPSO Pension Plan into a Harbor Bank account called the NASPSO Membership Dues Account (Acct. No. 1100058633). Most recently, on July 18, 2006, Caleb A. Burris transfereed $2,500 from the NASPSO Pension Plan to the Membership Union Dues account.
For More Information concerning Caleb's case please contact:
Catherine Oliver Murphy
Regional Solicitor
Office of the Solicitor
U.S. Department of Labor
Suite 630E, The Curtis Center
170 S. Independance Mall West
( 215 ) 861 - 5139
____________________
Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations
Thomas F. Farrell, Assistant Inspector General
Richard S. Clark, Deputy Assistant Inspector General
Employers and workers with questions or concerns regarding their private-sector pension and health plans can contact the EBSA Washington district office at 301 -713-2000 or EBSA’s toll-free number of
