Hello,
I need some guidance. I began working for a company in November 2006. I received my first ESOP statement in 2008 for 12/31/2007. I had 40k in the account on the statement. For period ending 12/31/2008, I had 44k. I was let go in June 2012 due to layoffs. The company was not financially sound. They did not file for bankruptcy. They restructured internally. No loans assumed.
Since the 12/31/2008 statements were released, the ESOP has not released statements to any of the participants.
I have managed to locate the 5500 filed annually with the DOL and the ESOP does still exist. It is not abandoned. So I started emailing my previous employer asking for the 2009-2013 statements on a very regular basis. They finally mailed me 2010-2012 statements just this week.
Herein are the problems I have aside from ESOP participants still not getting information, annual statements, or plan summary descriptions following ERISA.
1.) They have not supplied me my 2009 statement.
2.) The 2010 statement shows I have a beginning balance of shares. The statement also shows the value of those shares is zero.
3.) The 2011 statement shows I have over 2000 shares still yet the value of those shares is zero.
4.) The 2012 statement shows I have over 2000 shares still yet the value of those shares is zero.
5.) The 2012 statement also shows my vesting percentage as zero which is not correct. The previous statements show my vesting percentage as 100% which is correct.
6.) I've also requested summary plan descriptions/annual reports for the years 2009-2013.
7.) What occurred during the year of 2009 where my account dropped from 44k to zero?
8.) I do recall when I worked for the company that one of the owners withdrew $1,000,000 out of the bank on 12/31. I suspect he may have drawn retained earnings down to zero so the company had no cash or equity.
I've spoken briefly with the DOL, they will investigate, I just have to give them a copy of my email threads requesting the docs and a copy of my statements. I've also spoken to one of the VP's (an old friend who is still there). He said I should nail their butts to the wall. He had over 100k in the ESOP. Given all the info above, my gut feeling is there may be criminal negligence here but I really have no idea. At a minimum fiduciary responsibilities appear to have been side stepped.
Do you folks have any suggestions other than to say I'm up a creek here without a paddle? What would cause my account value to drop 44k to zero within one years time?
