With assets exceeding $651 million and over 11,000 plan participants as of 2022, Barnett and Wolff argued that Iron Mountain should have leveraged the plan’s scale to negotiate better rates. Instead, they claimed, Iron Mountain failed to seek competitive bids that could have substantially lowered costs.
Iron Mountain 401(k) Fee Suit : Lawsuit Details Disparity in Recordkeeping Fees
Between 2018 and 2023, Iron Mountain’s plan participants paid an average of $105 annually in recordkeeping fees. The lawsuit highlighted a steep increase from $52 in 2018 to $185 in 2022. By contrast, plans of similar size paid between $20 and $40 per participant for equivalent recordkeeping services, the suit alleged, pointing to a significant overpayment by Iron Mountain’s employees.
Initially, Iron Mountain contracted John Hancock for recordkeeping services from 2009 until June 2022, according to court filings. After changing providers to Fidelity, the recordkeeping costs dropped to $36 per participant per year, further supporting the plaintiffs’ claim that employees had paid inflated fees for years.
Iron Mountain 401(k) Fee Suit : Legal Representation and Next Steps
Neither Iron Mountain nor the attorneys representing both sides offered comments regarding the settlement. Attorneys Paul M. Secunda from Walcheske & Luzi LLC, James A. Bloom from Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky Wotkyns LLP, and Jonathan M. Feigenbaum represented the workers. Iron Mountain was represented by Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Ian H. Morrison, Thomas M. Horan, and Michael E. Steinberg.
