BANGOR – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a $2.5 million claim in Great Northern Paper’s bankruptcy case, stating that the company collected money from employees for health benefits but did not pay the workers’ health care bills when they came due.

Dozens of health care providers from Bangor to Aroostook County also have filed claims totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, stating that they performed medical, mental health, dental or prescription-drug services for the workers and had not been paid by Great Northern’s self-administered health care plan.

The $2.5 million claim, filed as part of an investigation into possible violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, covers medical, dental and prescription drug expenses allegedly not paid between Nov. 21 and Jan. 9. Great Northern’s former owners placed the company under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Jan. 9.

Between Nov. 21 and Jan. 9, employees contributed almost $689,000 into the health care plans, but that money allegedly wasn’t used to pay health care bills, according to the department’s claim. The remainder of the Labor Department’s $2.5 million claim is for the company’s share of the health care plans’ costs during the same period.

“Accordingly, any amounts of money withheld from employee wages that should have been transferred to the medical and dental plans but instead remained commingled with Great Northern’s general assets should be deemed assets of the plan, not Great Northern,” the Labor Department wrote in its claim.

The Labor Department does not state in its claim that Great Northern’s former owners actually committed ERISA violations, and it does not assess any fines against the company’s former owners. Instead, the department asserts that it has made “preliminary findings regarding the employee benefit plans” and reserves the right to amend its claim at a later date.

The Labor Department also states that if warranted, it may file a lawsuit in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Bangor seeking that at least $2.5 million be transferred to the medical and dental plans so that the outstanding claims can be paid.

Nicholas Walsh, a Portland attorney representing Inexcon Maine, Great Northern’s parent company, and Lambert Bedard, Great Northern’s co-owner and president, said at the end of last week that he could not comment on the claim because he hadn’t seen it yet.

According to the Labor Department’s Web site, ERISA is “a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in the private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans.” It primarily applies to any plans to which employees contribute a portion of their pretax earnings.

Great Northern self-insured its workers and collected up to $181 a week from each employee as their premium for medical, dental and prescription-drug coverage. Great Northern, as a self-insurer, was required under federal law to set up a separate account for the funds and to pay all health care claims from it.

On its Web site, the Labor Department states that any fiduciary of a plan, or someone holding assets in trust for a beneficiary, such as Great Northern, can “exercise discretionary control or authority” over the plans. But the plan overseers are required “to run the plan solely in the interest of its participants and beneficiaries and for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and paying plan expenses,” according to the Web site.

“Fiduciaries who do not follow these principles of conduct may be personally liable to restore any losses to the plan, or to restore any profits made through improper use of plan assets,” the Web site stated.

The Labor Department also reserved the right to file a lawsuit regarding the management of the 401(k) plan. In its claim, the department did not specifically address employee contributions to their 401(k) pension plan, which also were deducted pretax from their paychecks by Great Northern.

“At this time, the department makes no determinations regarding the 401(k) plan,” according to the claim. “The department reserves the right to amend this proof of claim should it find that monies are due and owning to the 401(k) plan.”

Since January, the Labor Department has stated repeatedly that it would “neither confirm or deny” that it was investigating Great Northern for possible ERISA violations, but it did have an attorney assigned to monitor Great Northern’s bankruptcy proceedings. Other than the claim that was made available last week, the Labor Department still will not go into greater detail about how its investigation is progressing, John Chavez, spokesman for the Labor Department’s Boston office, said last week.

But, he added, the claim gives a peek into what typically would be a tight-lipped investigation.

“Since this is filed with the court, it’s quite apparent we’re investigating medical, dental and 401(k) plans,” he said.

Any individual or business that believes it is owed money from Great Northern had until Oct. 6 to file a claim. So far, 931 claims exceeding $61 million have been filed in bankruptcy court and mailed to a Connecticut management company hired by the bankrupt estate’s trustee to process all claims.

A full accounting of all claims should be available later this week, and the review process could take a couple of months, according to Gary Growe, a Bangor attorney who serves as trustee for the bankrupt estate.

Jonathan Beal, an attorney for the Paper, Allied Chemical and Energy Workers unions, said he is pleased the federal government is undertaking an investigation and has filed a claim.

“If the Department of Labor’s going to collect, that’s what we pay our taxes for,” Beal said.