TRC Staffing’s $1.7 Million Data Breach Settlement Pays Up to $200 Without Receipts — or Up to $5,000 With Them. The Claim Deadline Is December 22, 2026, but No Money Moves Before the January 6, 2027 Hearing.

As of October 11, 2026, the TRC Staffing settlement is in its claims phase. If TRC Staffing Services sent you a letter saying your information may have been involved in the spring 2024 cyberattack, you are in the class and can file a claim. The court notice is direct about what it takes: “The only way to receive a Cash Payment from this Settlement is to submit a valid and timely Claim Form.” The claim deadline is December 22, 2026 — 11:59 p.m. Eastern online, or postmarked by that date on paper.

What you can get is one of two things, not both. Either reimbursement of up to $5,000 for documented out-of-pocket losses tied to the breach, plus up to four hours of lost time at $20 an hour (a maximum of $80 for time, by our arithmetic) — or an “Alternative Pro Rata Cash Payment” of up to $200 with no documentation. The $200 is a ceiling, not a promise: it is a share of whatever is left after fees, administration and the documented-loss claims are paid, so it can shrink if many people file.

Nobody gets paid yet. Judge Victoria Marie Calvert approved the deal only preliminarily on August 12, 2026, and the notice says payments come “after the Settlement is ‘finally approved’ and any challenges to that approval are finally resolved.” The final approval hearing is set for January 6, 2027 at 11:00 a.m. in Atlanta.

The class is “all United States residents who were sent a Notice Letter by Defendant notifying them that their Private Information may have been compromised.” Directors, officers and agents of TRC, government entities, and the judge and court staff are excluded. The preliminary approval order puts the class at “roughly 158,593 Settlement Class Members.” If you worked for or applied through TRC but never got a breach letter, this settlement does not cover you.

According to the notice, TRC discovered on or about April 12, 2024 that it had been “the victim of the ‘Data Incident,’” involving unauthorized access to its systems from on or about March 25, 2024 through April 12, 2024. (The headline on the notice’s first page says March 24; the body and the settlement agreement say March 25.) The information involved was a mix of personal and health data, “including, but not limited to names, and Social Security numbers.” TRC began mailing notice letters on or about May 24, 2024.

Lawsuits followed within days. CourtListener lists the lead case as filed on May 31, 2024; the court consolidated eleven cases on July 29, 2024, and a consolidated complaint followed on November 11, 2024. The plaintiffs allege negligence, negligence per se, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment and violations of Georgia statutes; TRC “denies all allegations and any wrongdoing.” On June 18, 2025 Judge Calvert granted TRC’s motion to dismiss in part and denied it in part. The parties mediated on April 28, 2026 without a deal, then accepted a mediator’s proposal on May 1, 2026.

The fund is $1,700,000. Class counsel — Milberg, PLLC and Markovits, Stock & DeMarco, LLC — will ask for up to one-third, $566,666.67, plus litigation expenses, and Kroll’s administration costs come out of the same fund. At the maximum fee request that leaves $1,133,333.33 before expenses and administration, by our arithmetic. Spread over roughly 158,593 people, that is why the $200 cash option is described as “up to”: it depends on how many people file. TRC pays $250,000 within 15 days of preliminary approval to start the fund and the remaining $1,450,000 within 15 days after the settlement becomes final.

• File a claim by December 22, 2026 on TRCDataSettlement.com, or by mail to In re TRC Staffing Services, Inc. Data Breach Litigation, c/o Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, ATTN: Claims, P.O. Box 5324, New York, NY 10150-5324. One form covers either option.
• Choose losses or cash. Documented losses can include unreimbursed identity-theft or fraud costs, falsified tax returns, credit monitoring or credit freezes bought on or after March 25, 2024, and costs such as postage, notary and mileage. You need “reasonable documentation” such as receipts; handwritten, self-prepared receipts are not enough on their own. Losses already covered by another source — including the credit monitoring offered in TRC’s notice letter — are not reimbursed. Lost-time claims need a description of what you did.
• A rejected loss claim is not lost. If a documented-loss or lost-time claim is rejected and you do not fix it, it “will be considered a claim for an Alternative Pro Rata Cash Payment.”
• Opt out or object by December 7, 2026. Opting out means a signed letter to Kroll, postmarked by that date, and gives up any payment but keeps your right to sue TRC yourself. Objections go to the Clerk of the Court in Atlanta and to the lawyers and Kroll by the same date.
• Do nothing and you get no money but are still bound: “you give up the right to sue the Defendant about the claims resolved by this Settlement.”

When will I get paid? The settlement agreement says Kroll distributes benefits “no later than 75 days after Final Approval or 30 days after the Effective Date, whichever is later.” If the judge approved the deal on January 6, 2027 and nobody objected or appealed, that 75-day clock would point to about March 22, 2027 — our arithmetic, not an announced date. An objection or appeal pushes it back. Payment is electronic or by paper check, as you choose on the form; checks must be cashed within 90 days, and money still left 150 days after payments go out goes to a nonprofit, CyberSecurity Non-Profit, not back to TRC.

Yes — this one is a real, court-supervised settlement, and the documents carry checkable details. The notice is headed by the court and states: “A federal Court authorized this Notice. You are not being sued. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.” The genuine contact points are the ones in the court-approved notice: the website TRCDataSettlement.com, the phone line (833) 930-0160, and Kroll Settlement Administration at P.O. Box 5324, New York, NY 10150-5324. Judge Calvert’s order formally appointed Kroll as administrator.

Practical checks: the notice gives the claim deadline as December 22, 2026 and says class counsel are paid from the fund, not by you — a message demanding a fee or a faster deadline does not match it. Type the address yourself rather than tapping a link in a text. The real website is the only online filing channel the notice names. And the settlement only covers people TRC notified: it is not connected to the T-Mobile or TransUnion breach cases that show up in the same searches, and a TRC claim does nothing for those.

One timing note: under the court’s schedule, notice to class members must go out no later than 45 days before the hearing — by about November 22, 2026, by our count. If you got a breach letter in 2024 and have not seen a settlement postcard as of October 11, 2026, that alone is not a sign you were left out.

The structure is typical of small and mid-size data breach settlements of the past two years: a single fund, a choice between documented losses and a flat cash share, no separately funded credit monitoring, and fees of up to a third. What is unusual here is the gap between the headline numbers and the likely payouts. The $5,000 cap only matters to someone with receipts for real fraud losses; most claimants will choose the no-proof cash option, whose size depends on the claims rate. With a net pool of at most $1,133,333.33 before expenses and administration and a class of about 158,593, the $200 ceiling would hold only if a small share of the class files.

Two dates are worth putting in a calendar now: December 7, 2026 for anyone thinking of opting out or objecting, and December 22, 2026 for everyone else. The court can move the January 6, 2027 hearing “without further notice,” so check the official site before relying on it.