US – Consulting firm Mercer’s troubled parent company Marsh & McLennan Companies is facing a class action suit alleging staff have suffered in their retirement accounts.

Connecticut-based law firm Scott & Scott said it has filed the suit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York “on behalf of participants and beneficiaries of the Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Investment Plan”.

It said: “The lawsuit has been filed to recover losses that current and former Marsh employees have suffered in their retirement accounts.” The firm said MMC “breached fiduciary duties owed to current and former employees”.

MMC declined to comment on the suit.

Scott & Scott’s action follows plans to cut 3,000 jobs in the wake of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s investigation into Marsh’s insurance market practices – which cost the job of chief executive Jeffrey Greenberg.

“Five senior executives have also left the company and its board of directors, Scott & Scott added. “Thus far, Marsh has set aside $232m for legal costs associated with the bid-rigging scandal.

Last week MMC said it had completed medium-term bank financings totaling $3bn, with Citibank as global coordinator and Bank of America and Deutsche as joint lead arrangers