A class-action lawsuit has been filed against LinkedIn Corp.,Sunnyvale, Calif., and other related parties for alleged mismanagement of the firm's $818 million 401(k) plan.
The suit, filed Aug. 14 on behalf of plan participants by Douglas G. Bailey, Jason J. Hayes and Marianne Robinson in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., alleges that sponsors and administrators of the LinkedIn Corp. 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust violated their fiduciary duties under ERISA by failing to properly monitor the investment options in the plan, both in terms of reviewing the options' costs and performance.
Plaintiffs also allege that the defendants frequently failed to use the share class with the lowest cost for many mutual funds in the plan, and "failed to consider certain collective trusts available as alternatives to the mutual funds in the plan, despite their lower fees and materially similar investment objectives."
"As a consequence of the foregoing breaches of the duty to monitor, the plan suffered millions of dollars of losses," the suit argues. "Had the monitoring defendants complied with their fiduciary obligations, the plan would not have suffered these losses, and plan participants would have had more money available to them for their retirement."
Daniel L. Germain, a partner in law firm Rosman & Germain who's representing the plaintiffs, declined to comment. Representatives from LinkedIn could not be immediately reached for comment.
