A former participant in a 401(k) plan offered by CareerBuilder LLC, Chicago, sued the company and plan fiduciaries, alleging violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
The complaint said the plan contained "excessively expensive" mutual funds, causing participants to pay "excessive fees" to the plan's record keeper and investment adviser.
"These mutual funds collectively underperformed superior alternative funds for a variety of reasons," said the lawsuit Carl Martin vs. CareerBuilder LLC et al., which was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Mr. Martin was a participant from 2014 until late 2017, the complaint said.
Mr. Martin criticized the fees charged by the plan's record keeper, ADP, and its investment adviser, Morgan Stanley, as "excessive and unreasonable." Neither was named as a defendant.
The complaint blamed the CareerBuilder fiduciaries for failing to maintain "a prudent process for evaluating the amount and reasonableness of this compensation." The complaint, which seeks class-action status, criticized CareerBuilder's fiduciaries for failing to examine "meaningful market competition" for the fees and services.
A CareerBuilder representative didn't respond to a request for comment.
The CareerBuilder LLC 401(k) Plan had assets of $189.9 million as of Dec. 31, 2017, according to the latest Form 5500.
