Labor department orders Calif. fleet to pay $2 million in owed benefits to drivers

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has ordered an Oakland-based fleet to pay 515 drivers nearly $2 million in 401(k) pension benefits that the DOL determined during an investigation the carrier had not fully funded the drivers’ plan, per an agreed-upon contract.

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Lange Trucking Inc., which operates on U.S. Postal Service contracts, paid $500,000 of the unpaid benefits before it was purchased by Hoovestol, a Minnesota-based company.

Hoovestol has agreed to fund the rest of the $1.48 million, and the company is correcting record keeping procedures, overhauling the plan and posting wage determinations at the work site. It is also making contract information accessible to employees.

The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment.