An excavating company is accused by several pension funds of refusing to participate in an audit to ensure correct contributions are being made.
Several pension funds filed the complaint May 6 against Rollie Excavating & Cement Finishing Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
According to the complaint, the pension funds are funded by contributions by multiple participating employers according to collective bargaining agreements with local unions affiliated with the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
The plaintiffs claim an authorized representative of Rollie Excavating executed an agreement on July 27, 2009 requiring the defendant to pay contributions to the pension funds for employees. The defendant has allegedly not given written notification of its intent to terminate the agreement, meaning it is still in effect.
The plaintiffs made a demand for Rollie Excavating to audit its records “for the purposes of determining the accuracy of contributions” in accordance with the agreement. However, the defendant allegedly failed to participate in the audit, breaching its contracts.
“Despite plaintiffs demand that defendant perform its statutory and contractual obligations with respect to participating in an audit to ensure that the proper contributions are being made correctly, defendants has failed and/or refused to do so,” the suit states.
The plaintiffs request an order declaring that Rollie Excavating participate in an audit. They also request an award of all reasonable costs incurred including court fees, attorney’s fees, filing fees, and any other expenses incurred.
“The fund is entitled to all reasonable costs incurred including court fees, attorney’s fees, filing fees and any other expenses actually incurred by the trustees in the course of the action, without regard to whether or not the employer did or did not owe delinquent contributions,” the suit states.
The plaintiffs are represented by Letitia Wiggins of Wiggins Law LLC in McLeansboro, Ill.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:20-cv-419