Need help with a XP Shell script to create local groups based on a file

Hi Experts! I've never done scripting in the Windows Shell before and I need some help.

Based on a .txt file I need to make a script that creates local groups but only creates a group if it doesn't already exist. I can create groups without a hitch, but I'm stuck on how to only make it if it doesn't exist part. The sample txt file I'm working with looks like this:

**************************************************************
New Employees
**************************************************************

LastName       FirstName      employeeID      Department
--------------------------------------------------------------
Doe                       John               A003            News
Smith             Dave                 B005            Distribution

The code I have to create the group so far is this:

FOR /f "tokens=4 skip=6" %%a IN (HiredPersonnelTest.txt) DO NET LOCALGROUP %%a /add



Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Washy