AT&T Escapes Would-be Class Suit Over 401(k) Forfeiture Handling

AT&T Services Inc. won a court order dismissing a proposed class action over how it handles 401(k) contributions forfeited by departing workers, joining a growing list of employers securing dismissal of similar claims.

The case’s legal theory “contravenes ERISA and decades of settled precedent” and would “create benefits beyond those promised in the Plan,” Judge Otis D. Wright II said in an opinion docketed Monday in the US District Court for the Central District of California. He dismissed the case in its entirety, explaining that the terms of AT&T’s retirement plan expressly authorize the telecom company to put forfeitures toward ...