A former employee of General Mills has sued the company and its retirement plan fiduciaries, claiming that the company 401(k) plan violated ERISA by charging excessive record-keeping fees and failing to replace its record keeper.
"Defendants unreasonably failed to leverage the size of the plan to pay reasonable fees," said the complaint in the case of Yasmin vs. General Mills Inc. et al., filed Oct. 14 in a U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. "The plan had substantial bargaining power regarding plan fees and expenses."
The lawsuit also advocated replacing Alight Solutions as its record keeper. "Defendants, however, did not regularly monitor Alight to ensure that Alight remained the prudent and objectively reasonable choice," the lawsuit said. Alight isn't a defendant.
"Defendants did not engage in any regular and/or reasonable examination and competitive comparison" of the fees paid to Alight that other record keepers "would charge, and would have accepted, for the same level and quality of services," the lawsuit said.
A General Mills representative did not respond to a request for comment.
The General Mills 401(k) Plan, Minneapolis, had assets of $4.82 billion as of Dec. 31, 2021, according to the latest Form 5500.
