MADISON, WI – A U.S. District Court judge in Wisconsin has held a Madison business owner in civil contempt of court after he failed to comply with a March 2021 consent order and judgment requiring him to restore $53,122 to the Thunderbird Engineering Inc. company’s 401(k) Plan.
The Dec. 7 order enforced a U.S. Department of Labor motion that followed an investigation by the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. EBSA found the owner failed to forward employees’ voluntary payroll contributions and loan repayments from Jan. 1, 2014, through Aug. 6, 2020, to the retirement plan, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge James D. Peterson of the Western District of Wisconsin issued a contempt order to Thunderbird Engineering Inc. and owner Shawn Woldt. Woldt made two of the of the required, scheduled payments, totaling $18,866 from the March order and judgment. He then failed to respond to the department’s inquiries about his failure to make the rest of the payments. Woldt has continued to violate federal law by continuing to withhold voluntary contributions and failing to forward those contributions to the plan since at least Aug. 6, 2020.
Woldt now has until Dec. 28, 2021, to restore the remaining $34,254, plus interest, to the 401(k) plan. If he fails to restore the funds by the deadline, the court order requires him to pay a penalty of $100 per day to the plan. The court also removed the defendants as...
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