People whom CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services notified about its June 2024 data breach may qualify to claim an estimated $100 cash payment and up to $5,000 in documented losses from the CBIZ data breach class action settlement. Claims are open through December 24, 2026, and the final approval hearing is set for January 13, 2027.
Current Status
Claims are open. Claim Forms must be submitted online by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on December 24, 2026, or mailed with a postmark no later than that date. The court has granted preliminary approval, and the final approval hearing is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on January 13, 2027; no payment date had been announced as of October 6, 2026. If CBIZ mailed you a postcard notice with a LoginID and PIN, the action to take now is to file a Claim Form. Class members who do nothing receive no payment and still give up their claims.Free settlement alerts
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What Changed Recently?
CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services, Inc. agreed to pay $485,000 to settle In re CBIZ Data Breach Litigation, No. 1:24-cv-01722-DCN, a consolidated class action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio before Judge Donald C. Nugent. The settlement agreement was signed in late August 2026, the court granted preliminary approval, and notice went out to the class, which opened the claim period.The case grew out of a 2024 incident that CBIZ described in its notice letters: an unauthorized party exploited a vulnerability in one of CBIZ’s web pages and acquired information from certain databases between June 2 and June 21, 2024, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The plaintiffs allege CBIZ failed to use reasonable security, and that the stolen data was later posted on a criminal group’s dark-web leak site. CBIZ denies any wrongdoing, and the settlement is not an admission of liability. The settlement agreement says CBIZ has since fixed the vulnerability and added security measures.
Who Qualifies?
The Settlement Class is everyone CBIZ sent a notice saying their private information may have been compromised in the 2024 data incident. That is roughly 19,990 people. CBIZ handles benefits and insurance services for other companies, so most class members are current or former employees of CBIZ’s clients rather than CBIZ’s own staff. Membership is checked against the administrator’s mailing list, so the notice is what decides eligibility.Excluded are people who validly opt out, the judge and court staff assigned to the case, CBIZ’s officers and directors, and anyone found guilty of causing or helping cause the incident.
How Much Can You Get?
The settlement offers two benefits, and a class member can claim both:- Pro rata cash payment. Every class member can claim an equal share of what is left in the fund after other costs. The parties estimate about $100 if 10% of the class files valid claims, and roughly $200 if 5% files. The amount moves up or down with the number of claims, so these are estimates, not fixed amounts. No losses or receipts are needed for this payment.
- Documented out-of-pocket losses, up to $5,000. This covers losses fairly traceable to the incident and incurred in or after 2024: unreimbursed fraud or identity theft losses; professional fees such as attorneys’, accountants’ and credit repair fees; credit freeze and unfreeze costs; credit monitoring bought on or after the incident; and smaller costs such as notary, fax, postage, copying, mileage and long-distance phone charges.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
Filing online requires the LoginID and PIN printed on the postcard notice CBIZ’s administrator mailed. The paper Claim Form asks for the Login ID “if known,” but class membership is still checked against the mailing list, so the notice is effectively the key to filing either way. Class members who lost their notice can ask the Settlement Administrator to resend their LoginID and PIN through the official settlement website by giving their full name and mailing address.The cash payment needs no documentation. A loss claim does: the Claim Form asks for a description, date and amount for each loss and copies of supporting documents such as bills or receipts. Self-prepared documents such as handwritten receipts are not enough on their own, and undocumented loss claims are denied. Every claim is signed under penalty of perjury.
What Is the Deadline?
Online Claim Forms must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on December 24, 2026; mailed Claim Forms must be postmarked by December 24, 2026. The deadline to opt out or object is a month earlier, November 24, 2026. An exclusion request must be mailed and personally signed, and cannot be made by phone or email. People who opt out receive no payment but keep their right to sue CBIZ separately.How Do You Take Action?
File through the online Claim Form on the official settlement website using the LoginID and PIN from the notice. Choose whether to request the cash payment, list any losses with their dates and amounts, and upload the supporting documents. Filing online is also the only way to choose an electronic payment; paper claims are paid by check. A printable Claim Form is available on the official website for those who prefer to mail it.What Happens Next?
The next milestone is the January 13, 2027 final approval hearing in Cleveland, where Judge Nugent will decide whether the settlement is fair and rule on the requested fees and service awards. The court can change the hearing date, so the official website is the place to confirm it. Holding the hearing is not the same as granting approval.If the court grants final approval and no one appeals, the settlement agreement’s timeline puts the Effective Date 30 days after the final approval order and payment of valid claims 60 days after that order. An appeal would push payments back. Checks expire 180 days after they are issued, and leftover money goes to a court-approved charity rather than back to CBIZ.
Sources and Verification
- Official CBIZ Data Breach Settlement website
- Official settlement FAQs — benefits, deadlines, opt-out and objection requirements
- Court-authorized notice, Claim Form and consolidated class action complaint (PDF)
- Settlement Agreement and settlement timeline (PDF)
- In re CBIZ Data Breach Litigation, No. 1:24-cv-01722-DCN (N.D. Ohio)
Questions
Why did CBIZ have my information if I never worked for CBIZ?
CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services administers benefits and insurance for other employers. According to the complaint, the people affected are mostly current and former employees of CBIZ's client companies, whose names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers CBIZ held to provide those services. Class membership is decided by whether CBIZ mailed you a notice about the 2024 incident, not by who your employer was.
Can I claim both the cash payment and out-of-pocket losses?
Yes. The settlement lets a class member claim reimbursement for documented out-of-pocket losses and also the pro rata cash payment on the same Claim Form. Losses are paid first from the net fund, and the cash payments are then split from whatever remains.
Why might the cash payment end up higher or lower than $100?
The $100 figure assumes about 10% of the roughly 19,990 class members file valid claims. The cash payments come from a fixed fund after fees, costs, service awards, administration and documented-loss claims are paid, so fewer claims mean bigger shares. The settlement projects roughly $200 each if about 5% of the class files. Documented-loss claims can use no more than half of the net fund, which protects the cash pool.
Does this settlement include credit monitoring?
No. Unlike many data breach settlements, the CBIZ settlement does not provide a credit monitoring benefit. It does reimburse documented credit monitoring costs a class member paid for after the incident, as part of the out-of-pocket loss benefit of up to $5,000.
What happens to money from uncashed checks?
The fund is non-reversionary, so none of it goes back to CBIZ. Checks expire 180 days after they are issued, and money left over after payments and that period ends is sent to one or more court-approved charitable organizations as a cy pres distribution.
