FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tyson employees filed a Class Action Lawsuit against Tyson Foods, Inc. and its Board of Directors on Nov. 30.
According to court documents, the employees argue that Tyson, through their recordkeeping company, had their employees pay excessive fees toward their retirement savings plan. The plaintiffs accused Tyson of making decisions on Recordkeeping Administrative (RKA) fees that did not benefit the employees.
The three plaintiffs were all participants and beneficiaries of Tyson's Retirement Savings Plan, which is controlled by Tyson Foods, Inc.
The lawsuit alleges the "plaintiffs and class members paid all of these excessive Total RKA fees in the form of direct and indirect compensation to the [retirement] plan and suffered injuries to their plan accounts as a result."
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), companies are required to protect individuals who use their retirement and health plans.
According to the employees, Tyson violated ERISA by "failing to monitor those individuals responsible for paying these unreasonable Total RKA fees."
Northwest Plan Services, Inc. is Tyson's current recordkeeper.
According to court documents, the average RKA fee incurred per employee between 2017-2022 under Northwest's services was $42. The documents compare Northwest's fees for the Tyson Foods Plan and other recordkeepers such as Fidelity, which keeps records of Plans for Danaher Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, The Sherwin-Williams Company, and Raytheon.
Northwest's fees in 2018 for Tyson were $41, while Fidelity's fees for each company ranged between $28-$33.
The lawsuit says that from 2017 to 2022, Tyson "egregiously failed to monitor the Plan's Total RK&A fees paid to Northwest."
The plaintiffs are seeking to certify this as a class action lawsuit for the approximately 67,000 members who are also beneficiaries of Tyson's Retirement Savings Plan.
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