Vision Airlines to pay ex-employees for health plan violations
A defunct airline has to pay former employees about $220,000 for health plan violations that left some people with large, unpaid medical expenses.
A Nevada District Court judge approved an agreement Oct. 25 between Vision Airlines Inc. and the federal Department of Labor.
The agreement includes a permanent ban for former airline CEO William Acor from acting on behalf of or providing service for employee benefit plans covered under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, according to a Labor Department statement Friday.
Along with the $220,000, a $44,000 lump sum penalty was served to Vision, Vision Airlines Inc. Health and Welfare Plan, Acor, and Shelley Lynne. Lynne’s account on social media network LinkedIn describes her as a former Vision assistant vice president.
The defendants must pay about $106,000 in plan losses and about $114,000 in uncovered medical claims from loss of insurance, according to the statement.
Las Vegas-area attorney Ken Hogan, who represented Vision, Acor and Lynne during the lawsuit, said his firm no longer represents the defendants and can’t speak on their behalf.
The Labor Department accused Vision in April of not forwarding withheld employee contributions to the company health and welfare plan.
The federal government also accused Vision of failure to pay its share of health insurance premiums and failure to warn employees when they risked losing insurance coverage.
Because the defendants didn’t tell participants they were at risk, their insurance was canceled retroactively, according to the federal government.
The highest individual amount owed to someone participating in the company health plan is about $51,000, according to the agreement.
Along with Acor’s permanent ban, Lynne is banned for two years as a fiduciary or service provider to any employee benefit plan covered by the same federal law.
The company started in 1994 and grew into a model like Allegiant Air, connecting resort cities with nonstop flights to places where other airlines required connections.
During its existence, Vision also ran flights to Iraq and Afghanistan for the government, a role revealed in a trial that ended with former Vision pilots awarded $5.3 million in money owed for work hazards. The pilots said theyhad to operate in the dark without cockpit lighting to avoid detection by insurgents, use evasive maneuvers on takeoff and faced possible airport rocket attacks.
Contact Wade Tyler Millward at 702-383-4602 or wmillward@reviewjournal.com. Follow @wademillward on Twitter.