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Michigan Lumberyard Closing Amid Pension Fund Lawsuit

Port Huron Building Supply Company in Port Huron, Michigan will close at the end of March. After nearly 70 years in business, the lumberyard is closing after a judge ruled in favor of the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund, which filed a $2 million lawsuit in May alleging the company was not contributing enough to the union’s pension fund, The Times Herald reports.

According to the Teamsters contract, a company can be fined if it has a 70 percent drop in its pension contribution – even if the drop is due to loss of employees, The Times Herald article reads.

Company president Michael Lauth told The Detroit Free Press, that the business has 14 employees, down from 34 in 2005. While Port Huron Building Supply’s lawyer said the company had never missed a pension fund payment, the breach of contract is alleged when the company’s contribution to the fund drops by 70%. That drop occurred when the company had to cut employees during the housing crisis.

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Port Huron Building Supply was opened by Lauth’s father, Harold, in 1946.

 

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