Arizona Labor Force Data Breach Settlement

Former and current employees of two Arizona staffing companies may claim. This is the most important thing to get straight, and the headline numbers hide it: this is an employee data breach, not a consumer one. The class definition reads “all United States residents whose PII may have been compromised,” which sounds wide open, but the Court's preliminary approval order explains that Arizona Labor Force, Inc. and Labor Systems, Inc. operate a staffing agency and store the personal information of their employees, and that the January 3, 2023 cyberattack took files containing current and former employees' names, addresses, Social Security numbers and W-2 information. Both named Plaintiffs are former employees. If you never worked for these two companies, you are not realistically in this class — and note that “Arizona Labor Force” is a private staffing business, not a state labor agency; governmental entities are expressly excluded. If you were placed under the Labor Systems name instead, you are still covered. On the money, two things. There is exactly one benefit: a pro rata cash payment initially set at $25, requiring no receipts and no explanation. There is no documented-expense tier, no lost-time payment and no credit monitoring — unusual for a breach where Social Security numbers and W-2 data were allegedly posted on the dark web. So there is no option to weigh; you file or you do not. And the $25 is a starting figure, not a promise. It is an equal share of what is left after the fund pays everything else, and the Notice and the Court both say it may be larger or smaller depending on how many claims come in. The $300,000 is not the money being divided. Class Counsel will ask for 33.33% of the fund (about $99,990) plus up to $25,000 in costs plus $1,500 for each of the two Class Representatives, and all settlement administration comes out of the same pot — a realistic net fund is well under $175,000, spread across a class the Defendants estimate at 37,884 people. If every class member filed, the share would be under $5; the $25 estimate assumes most do not. One point in claimants' favor: the Judge flagged the one-third fee request for careful review at final approval and called it the outer limit rather than a guarantee, and the fund is non-reversionary with any residual going to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. One filing trap: the online form needs the LoginID and PIN from the postcard mailed August 24, 2026 — but the printable form asks for the Login ID only “if known,” so mailing it in is the way around a lost notice. Claims close December 28, 2026; opting out and objecting close earlier, on December 13, 2026.

Do I Qualify?

You may be eligible if:

• You worked for Arizona Labor Force, Inc. or Labor Systems, Inc. This is the practical test, even though it is not the literal wording of the class. The Court's order states the Defendants store the PII of their employees and that the hacker copied current and former employees' names, addresses, Social Security numbers and W-2 information. Both named Plaintiffs, Daniel Bozek and Brandon Gaines, are former employees
• Your PII may have been compromised in the Data Incident. That is the class the Court certified for settlement purposes: “all United States residents whose PII may have been compromised in the Data Incident” — the January 3, 2023 cyberattack on the Defendants' computer systems. Note the words “may have been”; you do not have to show your data was actually misused
• In practice, the Defendants' records say so. The Notice tells recipients that “Arizona Labor Force's records indicate that you are a Class Member, and entitled to benefits under the Settlement,” and adds that you may have received an earlier notice directly from the company. Simpluris mailed postcard notice on August 24, 2026 using the class list the Defendants supplied. The Defendants estimate about 37,884 people are in the class
• It does NOT have to be an Arizona job or an Arizona address. The class has no state restriction and the benefit does not vary by state. Someone who worked an assignment for these companies years ago and has since moved anywhere in the United States is still in the class
• It is NOT a government agency breach. “Arizona Labor Force” sounds like a state workforce or labor-statistics body, but these are two private, Arizona-headquartered staffing companies. Governmental entities are expressly excluded from the class, so a breach at a state department is a different matter entirely
• The Labor Systems name counts too. The Defendants are Arizona Labor Force, Inc. AND Labor Systems, Inc. Being placed or paid under the Labor Systems name does not put you outside this settlement — the case is simply named after the first defendant
• You do NOT need to have lost any money, and you do NOT need receipts. The Notice and the Claim Form both say you do not have to provide any proof or explanation to claim the payment. You attest under penalty of perjury that the information on the form is true
• You can get the LoginID and PIN, or skip them. The online portal will not open without the credentials from your mailed notice, but the printable Claim Form asks for the Login ID only “if known.” Email info@AZLaborForceSettlement.com with your full name and mailing address to have the credentials re-sent, or call (833) 421-7257 toll free, 24/7
• You are not in an excluded group. Out are the Defendants' directors, officers and agents and their subsidiaries and affiliated companies; governmental entities; and the assigned Judge, that Judge's immediate family and Court staff
• You file a valid Claim Form by December 28, 2026 — online by that date, or mailed with a postmark no later than that date. December 13, 2026 is the separate, earlier deadline to opt out or object

There are two separate gates in this settlement and only one of them is about evidence. Gate one: proving your loss — there is nothing to prove. Both the court-authorized Notice and the printable Claim Form state plainly that you do not have to provide any proof or explanation to claim this payment. No receipts, no bank statements, no documentation of identity theft, no attestation of hours spent. The Claim Form carries a single benefit checkbox — “Check this box if you want to claim a one-time $25.00 pro rata cash payment (subject to increase or decrease)” — and no documented-expense section at all, because this settlement does not offer one. You sign the form under penalty of perjury, which is the only verification in the process. Gate two: getting into the claim form — this is the one that actually stops people. The online claim portal at AZLaborForceSettlement.com opens on a login screen that asks for the LoginID and PIN printed on the Notice mailed to you, and it will not open without them. Simpluris mailed postcard notice on August 24, 2026 using the class list the Defendants supplied, so the credentials are on a piece of mail from late August 2026 that a lot of people will have thrown out. That makes this an ID-gated settlement even though the payment itself asks for nothing. The gate is not absolute, and this is the practical workaround worth knowing. The printable Claim Form asks for the “Login ID (if known)” — note the qualifier. Some breach settlements require the code for the paper route as well, which leaves a class member without a notice with no self-service option; this one does not. If you believe you are a class member and cannot find the postcard, you can download the Claim Form from the Important Documents tab, complete and sign it, and mail it to Arizona Labor Force Data Incident Settlement, c/o Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 25226, Santa Ana, CA 92799-9958. The settlement website also explains how to have the credentials re-sent: email info@AZLaborForceSettlement.com with your full name and mailing address, or call (833) 421-7257, toll free, 24 hours a day. The administrator will also confirm for free whether you are in the class if you are not sure. What the administrator is really checking. Class membership here is driven by the Defendants' own records — the Notice tells recipients that “Arizona Labor Force's records indicate that you are a Class Member” — so the substantive question is whether you appear on the employee class list, not what paperwork you can produce. A missing code is an administrative problem. Never having worked for Arizona Labor Force, Inc. or Labor Systems, Inc. is not a paperwork problem, and no amount of documentation will cure it. One practical detail on getting paid. The Claim Form asks you to select a payment method — PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, a virtual prepaid card or a physical check. Electronic options need an account identifier that is correct, so check what you enter; a bad detail on an otherwise valid claim is an avoidable way to lose the money.

What Happened?

Arizona Labor Force, Inc. and Labor Systems, Inc. are headquartered in Arizona and, per the Court's preliminary approval order, operate a staffing agency. Incidental to that business they store the personally identifiable information of their employees. That is the data this case is about: employment and payroll records, not customer accounts.

On January 3, 2023, according to the First Amended Complaint as summarized by the Court, a third-party hacker accessed the Defendants' network and copied files containing current and former employees' names, addresses, Social Security numbers and W-2 information, and posted the information on the dark web. The court-authorized Notice describes the information involved as names, addresses, financial history and/or Social Security numbers. Not every class member's records contained every category.

Daniel Bozek and Brandon Gaines filed the action on January 30, 2024. Bozek worked for the Defendants from August 2019 to August 2020 and Gaines from 2012 to 2014; the Court's order records that both Plaintiffs' PII was subject to the alleged breach and posted on the dark web. The case is Daniel Bozek, et al. v. Arizona Labor Force, Inc., et al., No. 2:24-cv-00210-SHD, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

The litigation was narrowed substantially before it settled. After a motion to dismiss, the Plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint on July 15, 2024. The Defendants answered and then moved for judgment on the pleadings, and on January 22, 2025 that motion was granted in part: only the Third Cause of Action for breach of implied contract and the Eighth Cause of Action under the California Consumer Privacy Act were allowed to proceed. The parties exchanged formal and informal discovery through August 2025 and reached agreement on the material settlement terms at a private mediation on September 10, 2025.

The Court appointed Joshua B. Swigart of Swigart Law Group, APC, Ben Travis of Ben Travis Law APC, and Brant E. Hodyno of Compassionate Counsel as Class Counsel. Class members are not charged for these lawyers. The Defendants are represented by Gordon & Rees LLP.

Arizona Labor Force denies that it did anything wrong, and the Court has not decided who is right. The parties agreed to settle to avoid the costs, risks, disruptions and uncertainties of continuing the litigation.

The settlement is a non-reversionary all-cash common fund of $300,000. Class member benefits, settlement administration costs, service awards and any attorneys' fees and costs are all paid from that fund, and the Defendants separately bear Class Action Fairness Act notice costs of up to $2,500. Any residual funds are to be distributed to a non-profit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, with the Court's approval. Simpluris, Inc. is the Settlement Administrator.

Judge Sharad H. Desai granted preliminary approval and certified the settlement class on August 4, 2026, and postcard notice was mailed on August 24, 2026. In the same order the Court flagged that the requested attorneys' fees of up to one third of the fund warrant careful review at final approval because they come out of the common fund, noted that it had expressed concerns about a one-third award at the preliminary approval hearing, and observed that one third is the outer limit of what may be requested rather than a guaranteed award.

The Final Approval Hearing is set for January 12, 2027 at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time in Phoenix. Settlement payments are distributed only if the Court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved. No payment date has been announced. Claims close December 28, 2026, and the deadline to opt out or object is December 13, 2026.

How to File Your Claim

1. FILE AT AZLABORFORCESETTLEMENT.COM — the official settlement website, administered by Simpluris. Use the Submit a Claim tab for the online portal, or the Important Documents tab to download a printable Claim Form
2. THE ONLINE FORM IS LOCKED BEHIND A LOGINID AND PIN FROM YOUR MAILED NOTICE. The claim login page says you must log in with the LoginID and PIN printed on the Notice that was sent to you, and the form will not open without them. Postcard notice went out on August 24, 2026 using the class list the Defendants supplied, so the credentials are on a piece of mail from late August 2026
3. LOST THE NOTICE? THE PAPER FORM IS THE WAY IN. Unlike some breach settlements that gate both routes, the printable Claim Form here asks for the “Login ID (if known)” — so a class member who never got the postcard, or threw it out, can still download the form, complete it, sign it and mail it. The administrator will also re-issue your credentials: email info@AZLaborForceSettlement.com with your full name and mailing address, or call (833) 421-7257 toll free, 24/7
4. THERE IS ONLY ONE BENEFIT TO CLAIM AND ONE BOX TO CHECK. The Claim Form has a single benefit box: “Check this box if you want to claim a one-time $25.00 pro rata cash payment (subject to increase or decrease).” There is no documented-expense section to weigh against it and no credit monitoring option, so there is no decision to make about which benefit to take
5. YOU DO NOT NEED RECEIPTS, RECORDS OR AN EXPLANATION. The Notice and the Claim Form both state that you do not have to provide any proof or explanation to claim this payment. You sign the form under penalty of perjury
6. PICK A PAYMENT METHOD ON THE FORM. The Claim Form offers PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, a virtual prepaid card or a physical check. Give contact details that work, because electronic payments need a valid account
7. THE CLAIM DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 28, 2026 — submitted online by that date, or mailed with a postmark no later than that date. The court-authorized Notice and the settlement website FAQ do not state a cutoff time of day for the online form, so do not leave it to the final hours
8. WATCH THE EARLIER DEADLINE — DECEMBER 13, 2026. Opting out and objecting both close 15 days before claims do. A Request for Exclusion must be submitted or postmarked by December 13, 2026 and is the only way to keep the right to sue the Defendants separately over this incident
9. an objection is due the same day. Anyone who waits for the December 28 claim deadline to decide whether to stay in will have already lost the choice
10. MAIL PAPER CLAIMS TO Arizona Labor Force Data Incident Settlement, c/o Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 25226, Santa Ana, CA 92799-9958
11. QUESTIONS: the Settlement Administrator, Simpluris, at info@AZLaborForceSettlement.com or (833) 421-7257, toll free, 24 hours a day
12. Visit the official claim form: https://azlaborforcesettlement.com/

How Much Will I Actually Get?

THIS SETTLEMENT HAS EXACTLY ONE BENEFIT, WHICH MAKES IT SIMPLER THAN MOST BREACH SETTLEMENTS AND ALSO THINNER. Valid claimants receive a pro rata share of the net Settlement Fund, initially set at $25.00. That is the whole menu. There is no reimbursement tier for documented out-of-pocket expenses, no payment for time spent dealing with the breach, and no free credit monitoring or identity theft protection of any kind — even though the Court's order records an allegation that the stolen employee files, including Social Security numbers and W-2 information, were posted on the dark web. If you came here expecting the familiar “flat amount, or a larger sum with receipts, plus monitoring” structure, none of that exists in this settlement. Nothing stacks and nothing is traded away, because there is nothing to compare it against. THE $25 IS A STARTING FIGURE, NOT A PROMISE, AND IT MOVES IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. The Notice says the payment “is expected to be $25.00, but may be larger or smaller depending on the total claims filed.” The Court's preliminary approval order puts it the same way: the payment is “initially set at $25, subject to upward or downward adjustment depending on the number of valid claims and the amount remaining in the Net Settlement Fund.” There is no stated floor and no stated ceiling. Every claimant gets an equal share of whatever is left, so the number is a function of how many people file. THE $300,000 IS NOT THE MONEY BEING DIVIDED — THE DEDUCTIONS COME OFF THE TOP, AND THEY ARE LARGE RELATIVE TO THE FUND. This is a common fund, and the Settlement Fund is used FIRST to pay court-approved attorneys' fees and costs, service awards for the Plaintiffs, and the entire cost of administering the settlement. Only the net remainder is paid to class members. Per the settlement website, Class Counsel will ask the Court to approve 33.33% of the fund as fees — about $99,990 — plus litigation costs of up to $25,000, plus service awards of $1,500 for each of the two Class Representatives. That is up to roughly $128,000 before a single dollar of notice and administration cost is counted, and administration of a mailed postcard notice program to roughly 37,884 people is not cheap. A realistic net fund is well under $175,000. DO THE ARITHMETIC AND THE $25 TELLS YOU SOMETHING ABOUT THE EXPECTED CLAIM RATE. The Defendants estimate approximately 37,884 people are in the class. A net fund in the neighborhood of $170,000 spread across all 37,884 class members would be under $5 each. The $25 figure therefore assumes that only a small fraction of the class files — in the low thousands. That is the normal pattern in mailed-notice breach settlements, and it is why the estimate is plausible rather than fictional. But it is also the mechanism by which the number falls: a heavier-than-expected claim rate cuts everyone's share, and the only thing protecting the $25 is other class members not bothering. ONE PIECE OF GOOD NEWS ON THE FEES. The Judge did not simply wave the fee request through. The preliminary approval order states that the requested fees of up to one third of the fund “warrant careful review at final approval, particularly because they will be paid from the common fund,” records that the Court expressed concerns about the propriety of a one-third award at the preliminary approval hearing, and notes that one third “represents the outer limit of what Plaintiffs may request; it does not guarantee they will be awarded that amount.” If the Court trims the fee, the net fund grows and every claimant's share rises. THE FUND IS NON-REVERSIONARY, SO NOTHING GOES BACK TO THE COMPANIES. The Court's order describes a “non-reversionary all-cash common fund of $300,000,” and any residual funds are to be distributed to a non-profit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, with the Court's approval. The Defendants also separately bear the cost of Class Action Fairness Act notice up to $2,500, outside the fund. NOTHING IS PAID UNTIL THE COURT APPROVES. The Final Approval Hearing is set for January 12, 2027 at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time in Phoenix. Settlement payments are distributed only if the Court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved. No payment date has been announced.

Last reviewed: October 8, 2026 | Information verified from court records and official settlement documents.

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