SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. labor secretary is suing a California benefits plan provider, alleging discrimination, retaliation and violation of the Employee Income Retirement Security Act.
R. Alexander Acosta, U.S. secretary of labor, filed a complaint Sept. 20 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against FCE Benefit Administrators Inc., alleging the defendants used a lawsuit against its employees to harass and embarrass them.
According to the complaint, the employees were harassed and retaliated upon by their employers. The plaintiff alleges FCE Benefit Administrators retaliated against its employees for speaking with the Department of Labor by firing them.
Acosta seeks to declare the defendant has violated ERISA by terminating its employees as retaliation, reinstatement of employees, compensate employee, punitive damages, distress damages, enjoin the defendant, legal fees, and all other relief the court deems just. They are represented by attorneys Oscar L. Hampton III and Patrick M. Dalin of the U.S. Department of Labor in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 3:17-cv-05448-JCS