The U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Sept. 12 lawsuit to remove five labor and management trustees of the Plumbers and Pipefitters National Pension Fund seems to be targeting an investment that has not had time to prove itself. The Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, Fla., just opened in January and the books are not even closed on construction costs. The Labor Dept.’s main beef with the trustees appears to be that they did insufficient due diligence in analyzing the project at the outset.

There were delays and a massive change in the scale of the investment, but industry sources say the hotel now is running like a charm.

The Employee Income and Security Act, the cornerstone of the legal complaint, is one of the most opaque pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress. Most congressmen probably would flunk a snap quiz on it and we suspect that regulators might also. But the issue of pension security is a big one now, following the corporate profiteering by executives at Enron, Global Crossing, WorldCom and Tyco. Thousands of employees lost the bulk of their retirement benefits. Pension fund investments in the stock market also are diving and some large companies are going to have to start contributing billions of dollars annually to meet their pension obligations.

The clock is just starting to run on the Diplomat and time will tell whether the money will be flying in or out. But at least there is something more there than the fleeting paper value of a corrupt corporation.