What Is New With Employee Benefits Class Actions in September 2026? Latest court filings and settlement notices and Key Takeaways

The biggest news in employee benefits class actions this month is a September 18, 2026 final approval hearing on NextEra Energy's $8 million 401(k) settlement, and an $8.75 million deal that closes a long-running fee case against Fringe Benefit Group. Federal regulators also issued new guidance on tobacco surcharges in August, and the Supreme Court hears an ERISA pleading-standard case on October 13 that will shape whether future suits survive at all.

Nearly all of these cases are brought under ERISA — the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the federal law governing employer-sponsored retirement and health plans. If you are a participant, that matters in a practical way: ERISA settlements usually pay through the plan or by check to a class defined by plan records, so there is often no claim form to file and no deadline to miss. The work for most readers is checking whether they are in a class, and watching where the law is moving.

Official resources:

Read the official notice from Supremecourt — Use this primary source to verify the official announcement.
Read the official guidance from Dol — Use this primary source to verify the official guidance.

Two settlements moving through court right now
What the new tobacco surcharge guidance changes
The October Supreme Court argument that governs everything else
More lawsuits does not mean more payouts
The newer theories: voluntary benefits and funds already removed
How to check whether you are in one of these classes
Frequently Asked Questions

Two settlements moving through court right now

The NextEra Energy settlement is the closest to money changing hands. According to the official settlement website for *Stewart v. NextEra Energy*, the $8 million deal goes to a final approval hearing on September 18, 2026, before Judge Aileen M. Cannon in Fort Pierce, Florida. The suit alleged NextEra failed to control recordkeeping costs and used plan forfeitures — money left behind by employees who quit before vesting — in a way the plan document did not allow.

Roughly 20,000 participants in a $5 billion plan are covered. The second is larger by headcount. Bloomberg Law reported in September 2026 that a long-running fee case against Fringe Benefit Group settled for $8.75 million, covering more than 290,000 people who participated in two trusts through employer-sponsored health or retirement plans. Settlement papers filed in the Western District of Texas put maximum potential damages near $160 million. That gap is the most useful thing in the filing for a participant to understand. Class settlements are priced against the risk of losing, not against the theoretical damages figure, so a recovery at roughly five percent of the maximum is normal rather than a sign something went wrong.

What the new tobacco surcharge guidance changes

If your employer charges you more for health coverage because you use tobacco, the rules just got clearer. On August 26, 2026, the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury departments jointly issued FAQs Part 74 on wellness programs. The Employee Benefits Security Administration's announcement states the guidance responds directly to questions raised in dozens of pending ERISA class actions over these surcharges.

The core holding is that a surcharge is permitted — but only with an exit ramp. Under the FAQs Part 74 guidance published by the Department of Labor, a plan may impose the surcharge if it offers a reasonable alternative standard, such as completing a cessation program. The tobacco-related reward or surcharge may not exceed 50% of the total cost of employee-only coverage, against 30% for other health-contingent wellness programs, and the full reward must be available to every similarly situated individual who completes the alternative. Two details are worth checking against your own plan documents:.

Whether an alternative standard is actually offered, and whether it was disclosed to you
Whether completing it restores the full amount, not a prorated share

The October Supreme Court argument that governs everything else

On October 13, 2026, the Supreme Court hears *Anderson v. Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee*. The Supreme Court's docket for No. 25-498 frames the question as the pleading standard for ERISA imprudent-investment claims — here, over Intel's proprietary target-date funds and its allocations to private equity and hedge funds.

Pleading standard sounds technical, and it decides the most important thing in this area of law: how much a participant must allege before a judge lets the case proceed to discovery. Most ERISA fee and performance suits never reach a jury. They either settle after surviving a motion to dismiss or end at that motion. A ruling that raises the bar would thin out the next wave of filings. A ruling that lowers it would push more cases past dismissal, which in practice means more settlements like NextEra's. Either way, the decision lands after argument, so cases filed this autumn are being drafted against an unknown standard.

More lawsuits does not mean more payouts

Filing volume is up sharply. Bloomberg Law reported that nearly 70 proposed ERISA class actions were filed in the first quarter of 2026, against fewer than 40 in the same quarter of 2025 and 2024. About 20 targeted target-date funds, with more than a dozen aimed at American Century products. Employers are also winning. Human Resources Director reported that the Eighth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the Wells Fargo 401(k) forfeiture suit on May 12, 2026, holding that plaintiff Thomas Matula failed to plead a personal injury. The court left open the underlying question of whether using forfeitures to offset employer contributions ever violates ERISA — so the theory survives even though that case did not.

Standing is contested even further upstream. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's case page for *Konya v. Lockheed Martin* describes an appeal in the Fourth Circuit, No. 25-2061, from a Maryland ruling that retirees had standing to challenge a pension risk transfer — the sale of pension obligations to an insurer, here Athene. Both the Chamber and the Labor Department urged dismissal for lack of concrete injury. If that view prevails, retirees whose pensions are handed to an annuity provider may have no court to complain in until something actually goes wrong.

The newer theories: voluntary benefits and funds already removed

Two 2026 developments expand the map of what gets sued over. A Ropes & Gray client alert describes plan sponsors and their benefits consultants being sued for allegedly breaching ERISA duties over commissions and revenue tied to supplemental products — accident, critical illness, and hospital indemnity coverage. Those voluntary benefits were long treated as sitting outside the fiduciary conversation. The other development matters to anyone assuming a problem fund is a closed chapter.

401(k) Specialist reported that CGI Technologies and Solutions faces a $168 million ERISA suit in the Eastern District of Virginia over the Columbia Trust Focused Large Cap Growth fund, held in the plan from 2014 until it was removed in February 2026. Removing an underperforming fund does not end exposure for the years it was offered. For participants, the practical read is that a fund disappearing from your plan menu is not evidence nothing happened. It is often the opposite — and the removal date tends to define the end of a proposed class period.

How to check whether you are in one of these classes

Most ERISA classes are defined by plan participation over a date range, not by any action you took. Work through the plan, not the headline: If you hold a tobacco surcharge complaint against your current plan, the August guidance gives you a concrete document to cite. Ask your HR or benefits administrator, in writing, what reasonable alternative standard the plan offers and what it restores.

Identify the exact plan name on your statement or summary plan description, since large employers run several plans and only one may be covered.
Check the years you participated against the class period in the settlement notice; former employees and beneficiaries are frequently included.
Look for a notice by mail or email to the address the recordkeeper has on file, and update that address if you have moved.
For the NextEra settlement, follow the official settlement site rather than a search result, and read the allocation method to see whether payment goes into your account or by check.
Note whether the deal requires you to do anything at all — in many ERISA settlements, the only participant decision is whether to object or opt out, not whether to claim.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to file a claim to get money from the NextEra settlement?

Read the notice and the allocation section of the settlement site first. ERISA settlements commonly pay current participants through their plan accounts and former participants by check, using recordkeeper data, so many classes require no claim form. Objection and opt-out deadlines still apply and are listed in the court's notice.

My employer removed a badly performing fund from our 401(k). Is it too late to be part of a case?

Not necessarily. The CGI suit reported by 401(k) Specialist concerns a fund held from 2014 until its removal in February 2026, which shows that removal does not extinguish claims for the period the fund was offered. Class periods often run up to the removal date.

Can I challenge my employer moving my pension to an insurance company?

That is precisely what is unresolved. The Fourth Circuit appeal in *Konya v. Lockheed Martin* will decide whether retirees have standing to sue over an annuity transfer, with the Chamber of Commerce and the Labor Department both arguing they lack a concrete injury. Until it is decided, the answer depends on your circuit.

Why would a case worth $160 million settle for $8.75 million?

Maximum potential damages assume the plaintiffs win every contested point. Settlement values discount for the risk of dismissal, of losing class certification, and of appeal. The Fringe Benefit Group figures reported by Bloomberg Law are a typical ratio for a fee case, not an outlier.

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