Further ESOP Transaction Guidance Set Forth in Latest DOL Settlement Agreement

On the heels of a recent settlement agreement with an institutional employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) trustee, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and individual trustee James F. Joyner III (Joyner) entered into a settlement agreement (the Joyner Agreement) filed on Sept. 29, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. The Joyner Agreement settles claims against Joyner as a special trustee of the BAT Masonry Company Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan and Trust (the BAT ESOP).1 In this case, the DOL alleged that Joyner approved a transaction that caused BAT ESOP participants to overpay for BAT Masonry Company Inc. stock by more than $13 million.2

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Country Curtains Shareholders Vote to End Operations

LEE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the shareholders of The Fitzpatrick Companies, Inc. have approved the decision to commence an orderly liquidation of its companies and subsidiaries, which include Country Curtains, Inc., and the Housatonic Curtain Company, Inc. This vote follows a multi-year effort to either improve operations or identify a buyer; when neither proved successful, the Board of Directors recommended in September that the company pursue an orderly closure.

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A Big Idea for Populist Tax Reform: Really Increase Middle-Class Incomes

The Tax Policy Center's best estimate as of August is that the administration's concepts will on average save middle-class taxpayers $760 per year, compared to saving the upper fifth of taxpayers an average of $13,600 annually — an 18 fold difference! With middle-class real wages mostly flat or declining, there's only one genuinely bipartisan tax-overhaul option for helping average Americans: Making the offering of broad-based profit sharing or employee share ownership a condition for businesses receiving corporate tax incentives.

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ESOP-Owned Pariveda names "Best Firms to Work For"

DALLAS, Sept. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pariveda Solutions, a leading management and technology consulting firm that specializes in boosting clients' performance through innovative technology solutions and strategic consulting has been named by Consulting Magazine as one of the 2017 "Best Firms to Work For". As one of only fifteen firms appearing on the list, this marks the second consecutive year that Pariveda has been chosen to receive this recognition. This year Pariveda cut their ranking in half from last year coming in at #5.

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Maine's Newest ESOP Company

The leaders of Westbrook, ME based Ethos have sold 100% of their company to a newly-formed Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Ethos, a multi-platform branding and digital agency with 55 employees, announced today that it has established an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, joining a growing number of companies in Maine and nationally choosing the ESOP model for future growth.

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Court Orders $5M to Be Restored to Employee Stock Ownership Plan

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached an agreement with the owner of a Manhattan laser surgery center to pay $5 million to its Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to resolve violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The agreement was entered in a consent judgment by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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