Union: Missouri Medical Center Violates ERISA Plan When Serving Public

Columbia, MOThe vice president of Missouri's Cape Girardeau Craftsman Independent Union (CIU) says that the Midtown Family Medical Center can no longer serve the general public because it violates the US Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that union vice president Skip Kelley explained in a recent meeting that assets of the clinic's operator can only benefit the employees represented by the union as well as their employees, based on language in ERISA.

A US Department of Labor (DOL) spokesman added that the department is currently investigating the situation, but did not advise the clinic to stop serving the general public, according to the news source.

Kelley said that the fees collected from patients who are not represented by the union help to support the clinic financially.

"The CIU believes the DOL's position regarding the Clinic is not correct and is a catastrophe for those in the community who are totally dependent on the clinic," Kelley wrote in a statement.

ERISA was enacted on September 2, 1974.