Check Your Mail for a $20 Payment from LinkedIn This Week
The only time anyone's been happy to get a message from LinkedIn.
It’s time to check your mailbox: A year after it agreed to a $13 million settlement, LinkedIn is now sending the checks promised to participants in the Perkins v. LinkedIn class-action lawsuit over the company’s incessant and undesired emails. If you were part of the suit, your check — for $20.43 — could be delivered in a few days.
Here’s why you’re getting paid: LinkedIn came under fire in 2015 because it asked users for access to their email accounts. Once it had this access, it allowed them to ask people they knew to join their professional network, and it sent an email invitation tied to the request. The problem is that LinkedIn also sent two reminders that used the people’s actual names, faces, and information to pester people if they ignored the first message.
The company eventually decided to settle out of court.
Who’s eligible? If you were on LinkedIn between September 17, 2011 and October 31, 2014 and used the “Add Connections” tool so that your “name, photograph, likeness, and/or identity was displayed,” you could be part of the settlement.
LinkedIn users were informed of the settlement in October 2015. They had until December 14, 2015 to file a claim and receive part of the settlement. If you filed a claim by that deadline, and it was determined that you used Add Connections in the designated time frame, you should get a check in the mail some time soon.
This is what the check looks like.
At least one check has already been delivered. It was sent via presorted first-class mail on October 14 — it’s likely that the other checks were sent at the same time, which means they should reach more LinkedIn users over the next couple of days.
Don’t lose your check, though: A letter included with the check says that it has to be deposited before January 12, 2017 because it will be voided after that date.
Inverse reached out to LinkedIn to see if all the checks have been mailed out or if they’re being sent in stages. The settlement’s administrator declined to say how many people filed successful claims to be part of the settlement; LinkedIn pledged to add an extra $750,000 if enough people were eligible for the payout. We’ll update this post if LinkedIn responds.
