401(k) Participant Sues Rockland Trust Over Fund Performance

A former participant of the Rockland Trust Co. Retirement Savings Plan filed a complaint Wednesday, claiming the bank and the fiduciaries overseeing its 401(k) retirement plan violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by retaining an allegedly underperforming mutual fund among plan investments for a decade.

The complaint, Labelle v. Rockland Trust Co. et al, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by plaintiff Valerie Labelle, is seeking class action status and alleges that the plan’s fiduciaries breached their duty of prudence by continuing to offer the actively managed T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund, despite years of underperformance relative to its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Growth Index.

According to the complaint, the TRP Growth Stock Fund was first added to the Rockland, Massachusetts bank’s retirement plan in 2016. Between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2025, the fund experienced a net decrease in capital share transactions of more than $33 billion in assets, the complaint alleges. In 2025 alone, the TRP Growth Fund experienced net outflows of $3.4 billion and, according to the complaint, “a prudent fiduciary would view this market indicator as a major red flag.”

“Workers trust the people managing their retirement plan to protect their savings, and that includes removing investments that consistently fail to perform. Participants have no say in which funds make up the investment menu, so when fiduciaries fall short, employees are the ones who absorb the losses,” Christopher Nienhaus, an Almeida Law Group LLC attorney who represents Labelle, wrote in an email. “This class action is about making sure plan participants get the careful oversight federal law guarantees them.” 

The complaint was filed one day after oral arguments were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in Anderson v. Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee, focused on the need for fund performance to be measureed against a meaningful benchmark. The Department of Labor and the American Benefits Council filed separate amicus briefs backing Intel, arguing that poor fund performance does not prove that plan fiduciaries violated ERISA’s duty of prudence.

As of December 31, 2024, Rockland Trust’s plan had 2,326 participants and total assets valued at $300 million, including more than $56 million in assets participants had allocated to the TRP Growth Stock Fund.

Almeida represents Labelle. Block & Leviton LLP represents Rockland Trust Co. PLANSPONSOR is awaiting comment from the plaintiff’s law firm.