A participant in a 401(k) plan run by Juniper Networks Inc. has sued the company and plan fiduciaries, alleging breaches of fiduciary duty under ERISA.
The allegations of ERISA violations include paying allegedly "unreasonable" record-keeping fees; authorizing payments for "unreasonably high" managed account fees; and keeping certain investments in the plan even though similar options with lower fees and better performance were available in the marketplace.
"At all relevant times, the plan's fees were excessive when compared with other comparable 401(k) plans offered by other sponsors that had similar numbers of plan participants, and similar amounts of money under management," asserted the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed Aug. 11 in a U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif.
"These excessive fees led to lower net returns than participants in comparable 401(k) plans enjoyed," said the complaint in the case of Reichert vs. Juniper Networks Inc. et al. The plaintiff is seeking class-action status.
Claiming that plan fiduciaries failed to monitor record-keeping fees, the plaintiff alleged that "defendants engaged in an ineffective fiduciary process in soliciting competitive bids for these services."
The Juniper Networks Inc. 401(k) Plan, Sunnyvale, Calif., had $1.4 billion in assets as of year-end 2019, according to the complaint.
"Juniper Networks takes its obligations very seriously to prudently manage its 401(k) plan for employees," a company spokeswoman wrote in an email. "We intend to vigorously defend against the claims asserted."
