March 12 (Bloomberg) — Novant Health Inc. employees are suing the nonprofit hospital system for allegedly overcharging them in their retirement accounts by millions of dollars, according to a complaint filed today that highlights how workers' savings are eroded by high fees to financial firms.

In the latest of more than a dozen lawsuits against employers since 2006, a retired doctor and six others are alleging Novant's plan saw a more than 10-fold increase in fees over three years and contains costly investment choices, according to a complaint filed today in federal court in Greensboro, North Carolina. The lawsuit also highlighted ties between the hospital and a brokerage, D.L. Davis & Co., whose founder Derrick L. Davis gave more than $5 million in charitable gifts to Novant, after which he earned fees from the plan.

"Novant employees have had to pay excessively high fees out of their retirement assets with no increase in services for those fees," said Jerry Schlichter, founding partner of the law firm Schlichter Bogard & Denton, LLP, which filed the case on behalf of workers. "That's simply wrong."