BY RACHEL DOVE
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The former CEO of the now-closed Williamson Memorial Hospital, Charlie Hatfield, who also serves as mayor for the City of Williamson, has been under federal investigation for allegedly failing to forward employee contributions/withholdings to their company’s healthcare plan, directly resulting in its cancellation.
The alleged act of mismanagement left employees with a number of unpaid claims and without medical coverage.
In a press release issued Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor says they are taking legal action after a thorough investigation that covered a period between July 1, 2018 and Oct. 31, 2019 by its Employee Benefits Security Administration produced compelling evidence that Hatfield, while serving as fiduciary of the company’s health care plan, withheld payroll deductions/voluntary employee premium contributions, but failed to submit them for payment to the plan to cover their portion of the cost for insurance.
On Oct. 31, 2019, just 10 days before the cancellation of the hospital employee health care plan, the group of owners of the medical facility, under Hatfield’s direction, filed a bankruptcy petition and closed their doors April 21, 2020, leaving Mingo County without a hospital.
“Fiduciaries have a legal obligation to operate employee benefit plans solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries,” said Cristina O’Brien, the acting regional director of the Employee Benefits Security Administration. “We will hold them accountable whenever they fall short of that obligation.”
The agency also states in the suit that despite multiple warnings to Hatfield from the health care plan administrator, the former CEO did not notify workers of the pending cancellation, nor were the payments caught up to date.
Unaware of the cancellation, employees continued to use their insurance for doctor’s visits, hospital stays, medical tests etc., until Dec. 11, 2019, when they were finally notified of the situation. Employees found themselves responsible for paying the unpaid medical bills, creating financial hardships for many affected families.
The release says that the U.S. Dept. of Labor is committed to protecting the employment benefits earned by American workers and will “aggressively pursue and hold legally accountable those that fail to fulfill their obligations and misuse Employment Retirement Income Security Act protected health plan assets.” The filing also seeks to remove Hatfield permanently as fiduciary and bar him from ever serving in that capacity with any ERISA-covered employee benefit plan.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
The investigation into Hatfield’s alleged wrongdoings was conducted by the EBSA in Washington, D.C.