Pfizer Sued Over Administrative Fees in $21 Billion 401(k) Plan

A former Pfizer Inc. employee filed a proposed class action claiming the pharmaceutical giant mismanages its $21 billion 401(k) plan by overpaying for administrative and recordkeeping services.

Pfizer’s retirement plan paid about $52 per person in annual recordkeeping fees to Fidelity Investments Investments Institutional Operations Co., when a reasonable annual fee would have been closer to $28 per person, plaintiff Matthew Miller alleged in the lawsuit. Pfizer failed to use the plan’s “mammoth” size as leverage to negotiate a better deal with Fidelity—which isn’t named as a defendant—or another recordkeeper, Miller said.

Miller’s lawsuit, filed Thursday in the US ...