Northwell Health Inc., one of New York’s largest healthcare providers, has agreed to a $2.75 million settlement to resolve claims brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) related to its 403(b) retirement plan. The agreement, if approved, will bring an end to a class action lawsuit filed by former employee Kaila Gonzalez.
The lawsuit alleged that Northwell Health breached its fiduciary duties to plan participants and beneficiaries by permitting excessive recordkeeping fees and maintaining an underperforming investment option. The Northwell Health $2.75M settlement 403(b) retirement plan ERISA lawsuit is now pending preliminary approval before U.S. District Judge Taryn A. Merkl in the Eastern District of New York.
According to court filings, the proposed settlement would provide meaningful relief to current and former plan participants. Active participants would receive allocations directly to their accounts, while former participants, beneficiaries, and alternate payees would receive payments by check or rollover contributions to individual retirement accounts or other qualified plans. Counsel for Gonzalez stated that the recovery represents a substantial percentage of the plan’s potential recoverable losses and is fair and reasonable under the circumstances.
Northwell Health’s 403(b) retirement plan covered more than 56,000 participants with assets exceeding $5.6 billion as of 2018. The settlement follows two rounds of dismissal briefing and a May 2025 mediation session.
Kaila Gonzalez and the proposed settlement class are represented by Miller Shah LLP. Northwell Health is represented by Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.
The case is Gonzalez v. Northwell Health Inc. et al., case number 1:20-cv-03256, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
