Ex-BDO USA Workers Advance Narrowed 401(k) Plan Fee Challenge

Former BDO USA LLP employees who accused the accounting firm of mismanaging their $1.2 billion 401(k) plan advanced part of their proposed class action.

The workers have viable ERISA claims based on BDO’s alleged failure to obtain the cheapest available share classes for certain plan investments, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled Tuesday.

BDO argued these allegations were foreclosed by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s 2009 decision in Hecker v. Deere & Co., which held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act doesn’t require plan fiduciaries to choose funds based ...