THURSTON COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT
Liang, et al. v. State of Washington Dep’t of Social & Health Services (DSHS), et al.
If you are or were an Individual Provider (IP) who provided personal care to clients whose paid care hours were reduced by DSHS because of the “shared benefit” rules, you could receive a payment from a class action settlement.
A court authorized the notice. It is not a solicitation from a lawyer.
Initial settlement checks were mailed on November 15, 2022, for this settlement. The checks from the first round of payments have all expired and cannot be reissued. Residual funds were used to make an additional payment to Class Members who have not opted out and also cashed their first settlement payment.
The second round of settlement payments were mailed between January 31, 2024, and February 1, 2024. The checks from the second round of payments have all expired and cannot be reissued.
If you did not cash your first settlement payment, then you were not eligible to receive a second settlement payment per the Settlement Agreement.
The settlement will provide $116 million to pay claims by Individual Providers (IPs) who provided personal care to clients whose paid care hours were reduced by DSHS because of DSHS’s “shared benefit” rules between March 7, 2014, and February 28, 2021.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit over whether IPs were denied full compensation for hours worked because of the shared benefit rules; pays money to IPs; avoids risks from continuing the lawsuit; pays money to IPs like you; and releases DSHS and other defendants from liability.
Your legal rights are affected whether or not you act. Read the notice carefully.
YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS AND OPTIONS IN THIS SETTLEMENT
| Do Nothing and, if you receive a check, cash it |
Stay in this lawsuit. Give up certain rights.
By doing nothing, you will remain in the class. After the settlement was approved and if you had a share of it, you were mailed a payment. See Sections 9-13. If you cashed or deposited that check, you verified that you worked for an affected client, provided the client a certain amount of care, and were not paid for those services. This verification is detailed in Section 13 below. If you did not cash the check, that amount was redistributed to other IPs but you still gave up your right to sue DSHS for the claims covered by the settlement.
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| Exclude Yourself |
Get out of this lawsuit. Get no benefits from it. Keep rights.
If you chose to exclude yourself or “opt out” from this settlement, you were not mailed a payment. But, you kept any rights you may have to pursue claims against DSHS separately. To opt out, you must have acted by July 22, 2022.
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| Object |
Tell the Court if you do not like the settlement.
If you were not satisfied with the terms of the proposed settlement, you may have filed a written objection with the Court and/or have appeared in Court to explain your objections. You could not both opt out and object to the settlement.
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- Your rights and options – and the deadlines to exercise them – are explained in the notice.
- The Court approved the settlement on September 16, 2022.
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