Employees who filed a class-action lawsuit against UPMC over a data breach have reached a $2.65 million settlement with the Pittsburgh-based health system, according to court documents.
The proposed settlement would let current and former employees whose financial information was compromised by 2014 data breach to file claims for fraud-related losses or time spent to prevent losses, according to a motion for preliminary approval filed July 15.
UPMC informed employees of the data breach in February 2014; two months later, the health system said the breach affected 27,000 workers and in May 2014 confirmed that all of its current and former workers were affected.
Under the proposed settlement, UPMC will pay $1.68 million to establish a settlement fund for the 66,000 class members and up to $200,000 to a settlement administrator, in addition to court and attorneys fees.
UPMC employees included in the proposed settlement class will be able to submit claims for up to $5,000 as reimbursement for fraud or identity theft or up to $250 as reimbursement for inconveniences stemming from fraud, according to the documents.
UPMC denied any liability or wrongdoing and said it agreed to settle "solely to avoid the further expense, inconvenience and distraction of burdensome and protracted litigation and to be completely free of any further claims that were asserted or could have been asserted in the litigation," according to the approval motion.
Carlson Lynch law firm is representing the class members.