A participant in a 401(k) plan offered by Allegiant Travel Co., the parent of Allegiant Air, has filed an ERISA lawsuit alleging that the plan paid "unreasonable and excessive fees" for record keeping and other administrative services.
"Defendant did not adhere to fiduciary best practices to control plan fees and expenses," said the lawsuit filed Monday in a U.S. District Court in Las Vegas in the case of Cevasco vs. Allegiant Travel Co. "Defendant employed flawed and ineffective processes, which failed to ensure that the fees and expenses charged to plan participants were reasonable, and that the compensation third-party service providers received from the plan for services provided were reasonable."
The plaintiff accused Allegiant of failing to conduct a "proper" record-keeping RFP since it hired Fidelity Investments in 2011.
"If defendant had undertaken an RFP to compare Fidelity's compensation with those of others in the marketplace, defendant would have recognized that Fidelity's compensation for recordkeeping and administrative services during the class period has been (and remains) unreasonable and excessive," the lawsuit said.
The plaintiff is seeking class-action status for plan participants from Nov. 18, 2014 to the present. Fidelity isn't a defendant.
A company representative did not respond to a request for comment.
The Allegiant 401(k) Retirement Plan, Las Vegas, had assets of $371 million as of Dec. 31, 2021, according to the latest Form 5500.
