Non-exempt employees of Ardent Health entities who tracked their hours in Kronos Private Cloud between December 11, 2021 and February 17, 2022 may qualify for a share of the $2.9 million Ardent Health Kronos outage FLSA collective action settlement. The court approved the settlement on August 17, 2026, and signed Consent to Join Forms are due December 18, 2026.
Current Status
Consent forms are being accepted. The deadline to sign and return a Consent to Join Form is December 18, 2026, and the settlement website says it will not be extended; no time of day or timezone is given. Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr. approved the settlement in an order entered August 17, 2026, so there is no separate final approval hearing to wait for. No payment date had been announced as of October 16, 2026.Free settlement alerts
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What Changed Recently?
The case is Hill v. AHS Management Company, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-01045, a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in October 2023 against AHS Management Company, Inc., which does business as Ardent Health Services, and BSA Health System Management, LLC. The named plaintiff, a former employee, alleges that Ardent did not accurately or timely pay non-exempt workers for all hours worked in pay periods from November 28, 2021 through February 25, 2022, after Kronos Private Cloud — the system Ardent used for certain timekeeping and payroll functions — went down. The settlement agreement describes the outage as a cybersecurity incident at Ultimate Kronos Group that began on or about December 11, 2021.The parties settled after a December 5, 2025 mediation and filed the agreement with a motion for approval on March 19, 2026. The court found the settlement fair and reasonable and approved the notice and consent forms on August 17, 2026, which opened the 60-day window for eligible employees to join. Ardent denies the allegations, says employees were paid correctly for their hours, and disputes that a collective action is appropriate; the court did not decide who was right.
Who Qualifies?
The court’s order covers all non-exempt employees, regardless of job or title, who worked for the defendants or any of their affiliated entities in the United States from December 11, 2021 to February 17, 2022, in a position that used Kronos Private Cloud to track hours — or that would have used it but for the outage.Eligible employees were identified from Ardent’s own records, and the administrator mailed each one a notice and a Consent to Join Form. Because this is an FLSA collective action rather than a Rule 23 class action, nobody is included automatically: only employees who sign and return the consent form become part of the case and receive money.
How Much Can You Get?
The gross settlement fund is $2,900,000. Before anything is divided, the fund pays court-approved attorneys’ fees (the agreement allocates 40% of the gross amount to fees), litigation costs, a $5,000 service award to the named plaintiff and the administrator’s costs. The remainder is split pro rata by the number of hours each person worked during the Kronos outage, so an employee who worked more hours in that period receives a larger share. Each eligible employee’s estimated amount is printed on the notice mailed to them; the public documents do not give a typical or average figure.Each payment is issued as two checks: 25% is treated as wages and 75% as liquidated damages. Checks are valid for 90 days after they are issued.
Two limits are material. First, any share not claimed by an eligible employee, and any check that goes uncashed, reverts to Ardent rather than being redistributed. Second, the agreement includes non-cash relief: Ardent waives its right to recoup uncollected overpayments it made during the outage to employees who join, an amount the agreement puts at about $4,129,055. The notice warns that employees who do not join may still be asked to repay any overpayment they have not already returned.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
No receipts or pay records are required. To open the online Consent to Join Form, the settlement website requires the ILYM ID printed on the notice and consent form mailed to the employee, plus the employee’s last name; both fields are mandatory. An employee without the ID can return the paper consent form that came with the notice, or contact the Settlement Administrator through the official website to locate it.What Is the Deadline?
Consent forms must be submitted online, or postmarked, emailed or faxed to the administrator, by December 18, 2026 — 60 days after the notices were mailed. The settlement agreement gives employees whose notice was returned undeliverable and re-mailed 45 days from the re-mailing. The official sources do not state a time of day or timezone.How Do You Take Action?
The online Consent to Join Form is on the official settlement website. The site first verifies the ILYM ID and last name, then opens the employee’s consent form to review and sign. Signing it means joining the lawsuit, being represented by the collective attorneys (Parmet Law PC and Morgan & Morgan, P.A.) and being bound by the settlement agreement. The paper form mailed with the notice is the other route.What Happens Next?
Under the settlement agreement, within 10 days after the consent period ends the administrator gives the parties the list of employees who joined, and collective counsel files the signed consent forms with the court. Settlement checks are due to be mailed within 20 days after that list date, and the parties then file a stipulation dismissing the case. These are deadlines set in the agreement, not an announced payment date.Sources and Verification
- Official settlement website (ILYM Group, Inc.), including its FAQ page drawn from the court-authorized notice
- Important Documents: the court-approved notice, the settlement agreement (ECF No. 87-1, filed March 19, 2026) and the approval order (ECF No. 94, entered August 17, 2026)
- CourtListener docket for Hill v. AHS Management Company, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-01045 (M.D. Tenn.)
Questions
What happens to an eligible employee who does not return the Consent to Join Form?
Under the notice, an eligible employee who does not sign and return the form receives no money from the settlement and does not release any claims. The notice also says that an employee who was overpaid during the outage and has not repaid it may still be asked to repay Ardent; the agreement’s waiver of overpayment recoupment covers only employees who join.
What claims does an employee give up by joining?
According to the notice, joining releases all wage and hour claims against Ardent related to the Kronos Outage — including unpaid wages, late payment and overtime, and penalties under federal, state and local law — for the period from November 28, 2021 through August 17, 2026.
Can a current Ardent employee be disciplined for joining?
The court-approved notice states that no adverse employment action will be taken against anyone because they choose to join or not join the lawsuit and settlement.
Who pays the collective attorneys?
Employees who join do not pay the attorneys directly. The settlement agreement allocates 40% of the $2.9 million fund to attorneys’ fees, and fees, costs, a $5,000 service award and administration costs come out of the fund before the remainder is divided.
What if the notice with the ILYM ID was lost?
The online form cannot be opened without the ILYM ID printed on the mailed notice. The settlement website directs anyone who cannot find the ID to the Settlement Administrator, ILYM Group, through the contact page on ardentkronoswagesettlement.com.
