Your participants want to sue you! Yep, that’s right. Apparently there is a whole cottage industry springing up relating to participants suing for hidden fees. I read 4 articles recently by people postulating about how much fiduciary litigation there will be in the future over fees and costs passed on to plan participants.
What it caused me to question is how far will it go? What about health plan administration fees and costs associated with maintaining your benefit plan? Does the cost of plan administration weigh on the value of overall benefits provided to participants? Should profit sharing plan sponsors eliminate loads on participants’ accounts and bear the full weight of the plan themselves to maximize participant account balances? What will the “reasonable person” standard under ERISA Section 404 look like in 5 years based on the answers to these questions?
