A $4.28 million settlement over unused vacation pay is headed to former Bank of America employees, and the money arrives by mail without a claim form. The catch is timing: anyone who thinks the company’s vacation records are wrong has to say so in writing by November 27, and the check, once it comes, has to be cashed within 120 days or the money goes to a state’s unclaimed property fund.
Who the settlement covers
The case is Nguyen v. Bank of America, filed in federal court in the Northern District of California. It covers former Bank of America employees who worked in California, New York or Illinois and who left with vacation they had earned but never got paid for. The settlement notice says a person qualifies if they had a positive vacation balance when they separated and received no payout for it.
The periods differ by state. The class period starts September 28, 2019 in California, September 28, 2017 in New York and September 28, 2013 in Illinois, and all three run through September 1, 2026. That means an Illinois employee who left in 2015 can be in the class while a California employee who left in 2018 is not, and anyone who worked only in another state is outside it.
For most people the question is simple: when does the money show up, and what happens if the amount in the notice looks wrong? The settlement website says nothing is paid until the court grants final approval, and the judge has set that hearing for December 17, 2026 in San Jose. Even then the judgment has to become final before checks go out, and the hearing date can change. Class members who do nothing are still paid. The people who need to act now are those who believe the company’s records understate their vacation balance, because the dispute deadline falls well before the hearing.
A settlement check that arrives weeks after a court hearing, with a 120-day clock on it, is easy to lose in a stack of mail. The Settlement & Refund Recovery System includes a claim log and payment tracker so the November 27 deadline, the December 17 hearing and the cash-by date sit in one place.
Log the Bank of America vacation check and its cash-by date in the Recovery System →
The November 27 dispute deadline
Each class member has an Adjustment Form that shows an estimated payment and the data behind it. The settlement notice says that anyone who thinks that data is wrong can submit the form with supporting documentation to the claims administrator by November 27, 2026. Forms without documents are rejected, and the administrator has final say on disputes. The same date applies to opting out of the settlement or filing an objection with the court.
One wrinkle: the settlement site’s FAQ page says the opt-out and objection date is November 23, while the notice and the site’s dates page list November 27. Anyone close to the line should treat November 23 as the safe date and send everything by then.
How the payment is figured
Each person’s share is based on accrued vacation and rate of pay in the bank’s records, plus penalties and remedies under the law of the state where they worked, according to the settlement summary. The $4.28 million is a gross figure, before costs. The FAQ lists the deductions: attorneys’ fees of up to one-third, about $250,000 in litigation expenses, a class representative award of up to $10,000 and about $75,000 for administration. Taxes, including the employer’s share of payroll taxes, also come out of the fund. Any estimate printed on a notice can change before payment.
The 120-day cash window
The settlement notice is plain about the check. If it is not cashed within 120 days of its date, the administrator sends the money to the unclaimed property fund of the state where the person worked. A person stays bound by the settlement’s release of claims even if the check is never cashed. A lost check can be replaced only if the request comes before the void date printed on it.
The notice does not give a mailing date for checks. That means the safest habit is to keep an address current with the administrator now, since a former employee who has moved since leaving the bank is the most likely to miss a check sent to an old mailing address.
Check the address and the vacation balance before the deadline
The free route is the settlement website, which links to the notice, the FAQ, the Adjustment Form and a contact page. The FAQ lists the administrator, Analytics Consulting, at [email protected] and 866-983-3173. Class counsel, Stueve Siegel Hanson, is listed at 816-714-7100.
Before November 27, gather whatever shows what vacation you had when you left: a final pay stub, the last statement of accrued time off, an offer letter or handbook with the accrual rate, and a separation date. Compare the balance on your Adjustment Form with those papers. If the form is short by a few days, the difference is the amount the dispute is about, and the documents are what the administrator will weigh.
Then watch the mail after the December 17 hearing. Write down the date printed on the check the day it arrives, count forward 120 days, and deposit it well before that. If the notice, the FAQ and the dates page ever disagree on a date, call the administrator and ask which one governs.
A Bank of America check with 120 days on the clock
The check has no mailing date yet, and the cash-by date starts from the date printed on it. The Settlement & Refund Recovery System has a claim log and payment tracker for exactly that kind of settlement check. It also covers how to get an expired or uncashed settlement check reissued.
Track the vacation payout to deposit in the Recovery System’s payment tracker →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
