Empower Beats Suit Over American Electric Worker’s 401(k) Drop

Empower Retirement LLC defeated a lawsuit by a longtime American Electric Power Service Corp. employee who said she lost more than $150,000 from her 401(k) account during the stock market downturn of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Empower, which provided recordkeeping services for American Electric’s retirement plan, lacked authority to waive the plan’s 30-day waiting period for distributions or place funds in a “safe harbor” cash account pending withdrawals, Judge James L. Graham said. It therefore can’t be held liable as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act for failing to take these steps in connection ...