Barrick Gold Defeats Workers’ Appeal Over 401(k) Plan Fee Levels

Barrick Gold of North America Inc. defeated an appeal challenging its 401(k) plan fees, when the Tenth Circuit on Wednesday said the workers hadn’t stated a viable ERISA claim.

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit rejected claims that certain funds in the Barrick 401(k) plan were offered in needlessly expensive share classes, saying that these allegations didn’t account for the fact that the plan received discounted recordkeeping services in exchange for using the allegedly pricier share class.

Plaintiffs Cole Matney and Paul Watts argued that the propriety of this arrangement turns on factual questions that can’t be ...