Ardent Health Kronos Outage Wage Settlement

This is not an automatic payment - you must sign a Consent to Join Form. The Ardent Health Kronos Outage Wage Settlement resolves Hill v. AHS Management Company, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-01045 (M.D. Tenn.), a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action alleging Ardent did not accurately or timely pay non-exempt employees after Kronos Private Cloud, its timekeeping system, went down in a December 2021 cybersecurity incident. Because this is a collective action rather than a class action, nobody is included automatically - only non-exempt employees who worked for an Ardent entity or affiliate from December 11, 2021 to February 17, 2022, tracked hours in Kronos Private Cloud (or would have but for the outage), and sign and return the Consent to Join Form using the ILYM ID printed on their mailed Notice can be paid. There is no self-service way to join without that mailed Notice. The fund is $2.9 million gross - 40% goes to attorneys' fees before any pro rata share is calculated, and the documents do not disclose a net class-wide figure. Payment is a single pro rata share by hours worked, split into two checks (25% wages, 75% liquidated damages). Ardent separately waives about $4,129,055 in overpayment recoupment for employees who join - that is non-cash relief, not part of the $2.9 million. The deadline to sign and return the Consent to Join Form is December 18, 2026, on the official settlement website. Ardent denies the allegations and the Court has not decided who was right.

Do I Qualify?

You may be eligible if:

• YOU MUST SIGN AND RETURN A CONSENT TO JOIN FORM TO BE PAID - this is an opt-in FLSA collective action, not a class you are automatically part of
• You were a NON-EXEMPT employee of AHS Management Company, Inc. (d/b/a Ardent Health Services), BSA Health System Management, LLC, or an affiliated Ardent entity, anywhere in the United States
• You worked from DECEMBER 11, 2021 to FEBRUARY 17, 2022 in a job that used Kronos Private Cloud to track your hours, or that would have used it but for the Kronos Outage
• SALARIED, EXEMPT EMPLOYEES ARE NOT COVERED, however much unpaid time they believe they worked during the outage
• YOU NEED THE ILYM ID PRINTED ON THE NOTICE MAILED TO YOU, plus your last name, to open the online Consent to Join Form - there is no way to self-register without it
• Eligible employees were identified from Ardent's own time and payroll records, not from a public sign-up list
• If you never received a Notice and believe you should have, contact the Settlement Administrator, ILYM Group, at (844) 221-4471 or ahs@ilymcases.com, rather than assume you can file
• Doing nothing means no payment, but it also means you do not release any wage and hour claims against Ardent over the Kronos Outage - except that you may still be asked to repay any outage-era overpayment you have not already returned

No receipts or pay records are required - but you do need the ILYM ID printed on the Notice mailed to you, plus your last name, to open the online Consent to Join Form. Eligible employees were identified entirely from Ardent's own time and payroll records, so there is nothing for you to document about your hours, your pay, or the outage. There is no self-service route in for someone who was never mailed a Notice. If you lost your Notice or the ILYM ID, you can return the paper Consent Form that was mailed with it, or contact the Settlement Administrator, ILYM Group, Inc., at (844) 221-4471 or ahs@ilymcases.com, or through the Contact page on the official settlement website, to locate it. Signing the form is a legal act, not a claim submission - it means joining the lawsuit, being represented by Collective Counsel, and being bound by the settlement's release.

What Happened?

Vanessa Hill, a former Ardent employee, filed a Fair Labor Standards Act collective action against AHS Management Company, Inc. (d/b/a Ardent Health Services) and BSA Health System Management, LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in October 2023. She alleges Ardent did not accurately or timely pay non-exempt employees for pay periods between November 28, 2021 and February 25, 2022, after Kronos Private Cloud - the system Ardent used for certain timekeeping and payroll functions - went down in a cybersecurity incident at Ultimate Kronos Group that began on or about December 11, 2021.

Ardent denies the allegations, says employees were paid correctly, and disputes that a collective action is appropriate; the Court has not decided who was right.

The parties settled after a December 5, 2025 mediation and filed the agreement with a motion for approval on March 19, 2026 (ECF No. 87-1). Because this is an FLSA collective action rather than a Rule 23 class action, the Court approved the notice and consent process by order on August 17, 2026 (ECF No. 94) without a separate final-approval hearing, which opened the 60-day window for eligible employees to join.

The Gross Settlement Fund is $2,900,000. Before any pro rata share is calculated, the fund pays attorneys' fees (40% of the gross amount, about $1,160,000), litigation costs, a $5,000 service award to Hill, and the administrator's costs; no net class-wide figure is disclosed in the public documents.

Separately, Ardent waives its right to recoup about $4,129,055 in overpayments it made to employees during the outage - but only for employees who sign the Consent to Join Form. This is non-cash relief and is not part of the $2.9 million cash fund.

The Settlement Administrator, ILYM Group, Inc., mailed a Notice and Consent to Join Form to each employee it identified from Ardent's own records as eligible. The case is Hill v. AHS Management Company, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-01045, before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The official settlement website, ardentkronoswagesettlement.com, carries the court-approved notice, the settlement agreement, and the approval order.

No payment date has been announced as of October 16, 2026. Under the agreement, within 10 days after the consent period ends the administrator gives the parties the list of employees who joined, and checks are due to be mailed within 20 days after that, followed by a stipulation dismissing the case.

How to File Your Claim

1. SIGNING THE FORM MEANS JOINING A LAWSUIT, NOT SUBMITTING A CLAIM. The online Consent to Join Form is on the official settlement website, ardentkronoswagesettlement.com. It first verifies your ILYM ID (printed on the Notice mailed to you) plus your last name, then opens your consent form to review and sign. Signing it means you join the collective action, are represented by Collective Counsel (Parmet Law PC and Morgan & Morgan, P.A.), and are bound by the settlement agreement and its release. THE PAPER FORM MAILED WITH YOUR NOTICE IS THE OTHER ROUTE IN - sign and return it online, or postmark, email or fax it to the Settlement Administrator, by the deadline below. NO ID, NO NOTICE: if you were never mailed a Notice or lost it, contact ILYM Group through the official site's Contact page rather than assuming you can self-register. DEADLINE: December 18, 2026 - this is 60 days after the Notice mailing and the settlement website says it will not be extended
2. no time of day or timezone is given. Employees whose Notice was returned undeliverable and re-mailed get 45 days from the re-mailing instead. DOING NOTHING MEANS NO PAYMENT: if you do not sign and return the Consent Form, you receive no money, but you also do not release any wage and hour claims against Ardent over the Kronos Outage - except that the notice warns you may still be asked to repay any outage-era overpayment you have not already returned. No adverse employment action will be taken against anyone for choosing to join or not join.
3. Visit the official claim form: https://ardentkronoswagesettlement.com/

How Much Will I Actually Get?

THE $2.9 MILLION IS GROSS, NOT WHAT REACHES EMPLOYEES. Before any pro rata share is calculated, the $2,900,000 Gross Settlement Fund pays court-approved attorneys' fees - the agreement allocates 40% of the gross amount to fees, which is about $1,160,000 - plus litigation costs, a $5,000 service award to the named plaintiff, and the administrator's costs. THE PUBLIC SETTLEMENT DOCUMENTS DO NOT STATE A NET DOLLAR FIGURE that actually gets divided among the class, unlike some settlements that publish a net estimate. ONE FORMULA, NO ELECTION: the remainder is split pro rata by the number of hours each person worked during the Kronos Outage - there are no tiers and no election to make, this is not an either/or claim. Each eligible employee's estimated amount is printed on their own mailed Notice; the public documents give no typical or average figure. EACH PAYMENT ARRIVES AS TWO SEPARATE CHECKS WITH DIFFERENT TAX TREATMENT: 25% is treated as wages, subject to withholding and reported on an IRS Form W-2, and 75% is treated as liquidated damages, not subject to withholding and reported on an IRS Form 1099. CHECKS ARE ONLY VALID FOR 90 DAYS after they are issued, and any share that is not claimed, plus any check that goes uncashed, REVERTS TO ARDENT rather than being redistributed to other class members or escheated to a state unclaimed-property fund. A SEPARATE NON-CASH BENEFIT IS NOT PART OF THE $2.9 MILLION AND SHOULD NOT BE ADDED TO IT: Ardent also waives its right to recoup roughly $4,129,055 in overpayments it made to employees during the outage, but only for employees who sign the Consent to Join Form - employees who do not join may still be asked to repay any overpayment they have not already returned. WHEN YOU WOULD BE PAID: no payment date has been announced as of October 16, 2026. Under the agreement, within 10 days after the consent period ends the administrator gives the parties the list of employees who joined, and checks are due to be mailed within 20 days after that - a sequence set by the agreement, not an announced date.

Last reviewed: October 17, 2026 | Information verified from court records and official settlement documents.

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