Union Elevator Workers Advance Challenge to Retirement Plan Fees

The trustees of a $4.9 billion retirement plan covering about 30,000 unionized elevator workers must face a proposed class action challenging the plan’s administrative fees and mutual funds.

A Pennsylvania federal judge denied the trustees’ motion to dismiss Wednesday. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit requires that judges “construe an ERISA complaint liberally” and look at the allegations as a whole rather than “piece by piece,” he said.

The three-page order, issued by Judge Michael M. Baylson of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ordered the trustees of the Elevator Constructors Annuity ...