More than $11 million will be restored to the settlement fund for former
Enron Corp. employees who lost their retirement savings when the company
collapsed, the Department of Labor said.
Hewitt Associates Inc. and the Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. agreed
Thursday, March 13, to the $11.2 million settlement that resolved a contempt
motion filed by Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao against Hewitt for having
misallocated court-supervised settlement funds owed to Enron employees.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
“This settlement will ensure that all pension plan participants will receive
all the funds to which they are entitled,” Chao said.
Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Hewitt was hired by Enron to serve as the
administrator for the settlement fund.
The Department of Labor asserted that Hewitt erroneously caused the fund to
have insufficient cash to pay Enron workers, retirees and beneficiaries the
amounts owed to them when in 2006 they overpaid some participants at the expense
of the remaining participants, resulting in a $9.15 million shortfall in the
fund.
The settlement restores the funds necessary to provide full payment to plan
participants.
Filed by Colleen McCarthy of Business Insurance, a sister publication of
Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.