Court: Employer Must Give Employee Plan Document, Not Just SPD

From PlanSponsor.com:

The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has
awarded a statutory penalty of $20 per day for 511 days to an 
employee whose employer failed to respond to his request for a 
copy of its severance plan document.  

The court rejected LaSalle Bank Corp.'s argument that it had no obligation 
to provide Medapati Reddy with a copy of the plan because it had satisfied 
the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requirements by giving 
Reddy a copy of the plan's summary plan description (SPD), BNA reports.  

However, the court did deny Reddy’s request for the statutory maximum 
penalty of $110 per day, saying there was no evidence that LaSalle 
intentionally concealed the plan document from him.  

Of course, the $10,00 or so that the defendant has to pay as a statutory penalty
is not the real financial hit the company will take here.  Assuming that the 
plaintiff's attorney is eligible for attorneys' fees, that is where the real big 
money will change hands.

PS