Columbia Employees Want Class Status in Retirement Plan Suit

Columbia University employees are urging a federal court in New York to allow them to proceed as a class in their lawsuit challenging alleged high fees and imprudent investments in the college’s $6 billion retirement plans.

The request comes one year after Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York partially denied the university’s request to toss the lawsuit. As a result, the workers were allowed to advance claims that Columbia was imprudent by causing the plan to pay excessive administrative and record-keeping fees and selecting investment options that carried high fees ...