Published
September 30, 2026
Hourly WellNow Urgent Care patient-care employees who worked in New York, Illinois or Pennsylvania during the class periods may qualify to claim a points-based share of the $1.64 million WellNow wage and hour class action settlement. Claims close November 25, 2026; the final approval hearing is set for December 16, 2026.
Current Status
Claims are open. A Claim Form must be postmarked or received by the settlement administrator by November 25, 2026. The court will hold a final approval hearing on December 16, 2026 at 1:30 p.m.; no final approval order has been entered, and no payment date has been announced as of September 30, 2026. Hourly employees who received a Notice of Class Action Settlement must return the Claim Form to be paid, while workers who already opted in to the lawsuit do not need to file anything.Free settlement alerts
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Status
Claims Open
Claim Deadline
November 25, 2026
Postmarked or received · opt-in plaintiffs do not file
Estimated Payout
Pro rata share of $1.64M
Points per pay period worked · amount printed on each notice
Proof Required
No
Signed Claim Form with name, contact details and last four of SSN · no pay records needed
What Changed Recently?
WellNow Urgent Care, P.C., which operates urgent care, telehealth and occupational medicine clinics, agreed to pay up to $1,640,000 to resolve Sears et al. v. WellNow Urgent Care, P.C., a wage and hour lawsuit filed June 6, 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The settlement agreement was filed with the court on July 28, 2026, and a court-authorized notice and Claim Form have now gone out to class members, with administration handled by Simpluris.The lawsuit alleges that WellNow violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the wage laws of Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania through automatic meal-period deductions, an automatic time-rounding policy, and by leaving certain bonus payments out of the regular rate used to calculate overtime. In July 2024 the court conditionally certified a nationwide FLSA collective of patient-care employees who received a meal-period deduction or were subject to time rounding since June 6, 2020. About 7,200 hourly employees were notified in February 2025, and roughly 2,681 opted in. The parties mediated in July 2025 and reached an agreement in principle on March 19, 2026.
WellNow denies all of the claims and any liability or wrongdoing, and the settlement is not an admission that its pay practices violated any law.
Who Qualifies?
The settlement covers WellNow employees with direct patient care duties who were classified as non-exempt and paid hourly — the agreement names licensed practical nurses, X-ray technicians, clinic shift leads, medical assistants and other patient care staff. Class membership is controlled by the list WellNow supplied from its records, so a person who is not on that list is not a class member unless the parties agree or the court orders otherwise. There are four state classes, each running through the date the court granted preliminary approval:- New York Class — hourly, non-exempt WellNow employees who worked in New York from June 6, 2017.
- Illinois Minimum Wage Law (IMWL) Class — hourly WellNow employees in Illinois from June 8, 2023.
- Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (IWPCA) Class — hourly WellNow employees in Illinois who clocked out for a meal break or whose clock-in and clock-out times were automatically rounded, from June 8, 2016.
- Pennsylvania Class — hourly WellNow employees who worked in, or were based out of, Pennsylvania from June 8, 2023.
How Much Can You Get?
The $1,640,000 gross fund first pays attorneys' fees of up to 35% of the fund plus litigation costs, service payments of $5,000 to each of the three named plaintiffs, and the administrator's costs, all subject to court approval. What remains, the net settlement fund, is divided by points:- Opt-in plaintiffs earn two points for each pay period worked as an hourly employee at a WellNow location from June 6, 2020 through the preliminary approval date.
- State class members earn one point for each pay period worked as an hourly employee in their state during that state's class period.
Two limits matter. First, the fund is claims-made: a state class member who is not an opt-in plaintiff and does not return a Claim Form gets nothing, and that person's allocated share returns to WellNow rather than being redistributed to other claimants. Second, settlement checks must be cashed within 150 days, and uncashed money also goes back to WellNow.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
No receipts, pay stubs or time records are needed to file. The Claim Form asks for the class member's name, any other name used while working at WellNow, the last four digits of their Social Security number, home address, telephone number and email address, plus a signature and date. The blank Claim Form has no field for a notice ID or PIN. By signing, a claimant declares under penalty of perjury that they received the notice and are a class member, consents to join the FLSA collective, and releases the covered federal and state wage claims.Documentation comes into play only for someone who disputes the number of pay periods credited to them on the notice, as explained in the questions below.
What Is the Deadline?
The Claim Form must be postmarked, or received by the administrator, no later than November 25, 2026. The notice does not specify a time of day. The same date is the deadline to request exclusion, to object, and to dispute a pay-period count. The agreement allows an extra 15 days for a class member the administrator determines never received the original notice or could not file in time because of a change of address, military service, hospitalization or similar circumstances.How Do You Take Action?
- File a claim: complete, sign and date the Claim Form that came with the notice, then mail it in the enclosed envelope or scan it and email it to the administrator by November 25, 2026. A copy of the Claim Form and the notices are available through the official Sears WellNow Settlement website, which also lists the administrator's contact options.
- Opt-in plaintiffs: no action is needed to be paid.
- Exclude yourself: send a signed written request to the administrator stating, "I exclude myself from the WellNow Class Action settlement. I affirm that I was an employee of WellNow," with your full name, address and telephone number. Excluding yourself is the only way to keep the right to sue WellNow separately over these claims, and it means no payment. The notice warns against submitting both a Claim Form and an exclusion request.
- Object: file a written objection with the court and mail copies to class counsel and WellNow's counsel by November 25, 2026, including the words "I object to the WellNow Class Action settlement" and the other items listed in Section III of the notice. A person who excludes themselves cannot object.
What Happens Next?
Judge John F. Kness will consider final approval, the fee request and the service payments at the hearing on December 16, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. The notice says the hearing may be postponed without further notice and that class members do not need to attend. If the court approves the settlement and no appeal is filed, the administrator mails checks within 35 days after the settlement's effective date. If an appeal is filed, payment waits until it is resolved, which the notice cautions could take more than a year. WellNow may withdraw from the settlement if more than 10% of class members exclude themselves.Sources and Verification
- Class and Collective Action Settlement Agreement in Sears et al. v. WellNow Urgent Care, P.C., filed July 28, 2026 as ECF No. 212-1, with its Exhibit A Claim Form, Exhibits B through D class and collective notices, and Exhibit F proposed preliminary approval order.
- Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement as mailed by the administrator, stating the November 25, 2026 deadline and the December 16, 2026 hearing, embedded below.
- Official settlement website — Sears WellNow Settlement, including its Important Documents and Important Dates pages.
- Sears et al. v. WellNow Urgent Care, P.C., Case No. 1:23-cv-03544, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
OpenClassActions.com is a consumer news site and is not the settlement administrator or a law firm. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
Questions
I already opted in to the WellNow lawsuit. Do I need to return a Claim Form?
No. Opt-in plaintiffs, the roughly 2,681 workers who joined the Fair Labor Standards Act collective after notice went out in February 2025, do not need to submit a Claim Form. Their share is calculated from WellNow's payroll records and paid after final approval unless they exclude themselves.
What happens to the money if a WellNow class member does not file?
It stays with WellNow. The settlement is claims-made: the allocated share of any state-law class member who is not an opt-in plaintiff and does not return a timely Claim Form remains WellNow's property, and so does the money from any settlement check not cashed within 150 days.
What if the number of pay periods on my WellNow notice looks wrong?
You can dispute it by mail with the settlement administrator, Simpluris, by sending a description of the dispute and supporting documentation such as pay stubs, postmarked by November 25, 2026. Class members who are not opt-in plaintiffs must also return a timely Claim Form. WellNow's records are presumed accurate, and the administrator's decision is final. The mailing details are on the official settlement website.
Does the WellNow settlement mean the company broke wage laws?
No. WellNow denies all of the claims and any liability or wrongdoing, and the settlement is not an admission. The parties settled to avoid the cost and risk of further litigation, and no court has ruled on whether the pay practices at issue violated the law.
Official Settlement Documents
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Settlement Amount
$1,640,000
Case Title
Sears et al. v. WellNow Urgent Care, P.C.
Case Number
1:23-cv-03544
Court
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division
Final Approval Hearing
December 16, 2026 at 1:30 p.m.
Judge John F. Kness · Courtroom 2125, Chicago
Administrator
Simpluris, Inc.
Official Website
Sears WellNow Settlement
