401(k) Forfeiture Claims Fuel Excessive Fee Suits They Follow

Employers handling 401(k) assets forfeited by former employees have been reckoning with suits that seek to combine emerging benefits law breach claims over their use of the funds to defray their contributions with long-popular excessive plan fee allegations.

Several judges have proven receptive to workers’ arguments that using their 401(k) forfeitures to reduce administrative expenses could be an Employee Retirement Income Security Act violation, after a California federal judge said Qualcomm Inc. workers plausibly alleged the company put its financial interest ahead of participants’.

Employees have alleged that other large companies like Wells Fargo & Co., Honeywell International Inc. ...