THIS IS THE WEBSITE FOR FORMER AOL COMMUNITY LEADERS
 ("VOLUNTEERS") WHO WANT TO COLLECT UNPAID MINIMUM WAGES
 FROM AMERICA ONLINE. YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO MAKE A CLAIM
 FOR UNPAID WAGES FROM AOL FOR YOUR WORK AS A COMMUNITY
 LEADER BUT YOUR TIME TO DO SO MAY BE LIMITED!

IMPORTANT NOTICE ON THE CLAIM (CONSENT TO JOIN FORM) FILING DEADLINE:  THE ORIGINAL CONSENT TO JOIN FILING DEADLINE SET BY THE COURT WAS JULY 7, 2008.  BUT IT IS POSSIBLE THAT CONSENT TO JOIN FORMS FILED AFTER THAT DATE WILL BE ACCEPTED BY THE COURT.  IF YOU HAVE NOT YET FILED A CONSENT TO JOIN FORM WITH THE COURT AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THE LAWSUIT PLEASE SEND YOUR CONSENT TO JOIN FORM TO THE COURT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  A REQUEST IS GOING TO BE MADE TO THE COURT TO EXTEND THE CONSENT TO JOIN FORM FILING DEADLINE AND FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THIS WILL BE POSTED WHEN IT IS AVAILABLE.  Consent to Join Forms can be obtained at this link HERE.  It is suggested that Consent to Join Forms be mailed, not faxed, to the Court at this time.


YOU CAN READ ABOUT THE AOL COMMUNITY LEADERS LAWSUIT IN FORBES MAGAZINE BY CLICKING HERE

YOU MAY RECEIVE BOTH AN EMAIL NOTICE OF THIS LAWSUIT AND A REGULAR MAIL NOTICE ABOUT THIS LAWSUIT.   YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESPOND TO BOTH TO JOIN THIS LAWSUIT, YOU ONLY NEED TO FILE ONE CONSENT FORM WITH THE COURT.

IF YOU WISH TO ASSIST WITH THE LAWSUIT AND BE ADVISED ABOUT FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CASE PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO ATTORNEY AT AOLCLASSACTION.COM WITH THE SUBJECT LINE MESSAGE "MAILING LIST' AND YOU WILL BE ADDED TO A LISTSERVE WE HOPE TO CREATE FOR FUTURE NOTIFICATION PURPOSES.   PLEASE ALSO, IF YOU CAN, FORWARD TO US WITH THAT EMAIL A COPY OF THE CONSENT FORM YOU FILED WITH THE COURT.  Thank you.

Thousands of persons have performed unpaid "volunteer" work for America Online during the 1990's and through June of 2005 when AOL terminated its "Community Leader" program. In 1999 a group of former AOL Community Leaders ("CLs") filed a class action lawsuit against AOL seeking the payment of minimum wages for the valuable work they performed for AOL. Overtime pay is also being sought for CLs who worked over 40 hours a week. This web page is maintained by the attorneys representing the CLs who filed the lawsuit.

On February 19, 2008 the Court in that case issued an Order directing that all persons who worked as CLs for AOL at anytime after May 1, 1997 be given an opportunity to join this lawsuit and make a claim for unpaid wages. You can view a copy of that Order HERE.

YOUR TIME TO MAKE A CLAIM UNDER THE COURT’S ORDER WILL EXPIRE ON JULY 7, 2008. If you fail to make a claim by that date you may be unable to make any future claim against AOL for unpaid wages for your work as a CL. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MAKING A CLAIM FOR UNPAID WAGES PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE "CONSENT FORM" THAT YOU MUST FILL OUT, SIGN AND FILE WITH THE COURT. YOU MUST HAVE THAT CONSENT FORM FILED WITH THE COURT BY JULY 7, 2008. You can file that form by fax or by mail, please see the instructions on the bottom of the consent form page.  YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE CONSENT FORM BY CLICKING HERE

THERE IS GOOD REASON TO BELIEVE
THAT THIS CASE WILL BE SUCCESSFUL AND THAT
SOME COMMUNITY LEADERS MAY BE ENTITLED
TO THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN UNPAID WAGES

Many CLs may be puzzled by the idea that they can make a claim for wages for work that they agreed to do "voluntarily" knowing that they would not be paid for that work. AOL is a "for profit" business, not a charity. Under the Federal minimum wage law (the Fair Labor Standards Act) private profit making businesses cannot use "volunteer" labor or pay people less than the minimum wage. If a profit making business was allowed to have people "volunteer" to work for nothing there would be no effective minimum wage law. The rule is if you perform work, unless it is for a charity, you must be paid at least the minimum wage.

Although AOL argues that the CLs did not perform "work" most of the CLs would probably disagree with that. CLs were often required to work fixed shifts, to undergo training, to follow rules, file reports, and were used by AOL to enforce AOL’s "terms of service".  CLs also assisted AOL customers with technical problems and helped AOL prevent disruptions of AOL chat rooms, bulletin boards, and other AOL activities. CLs were not free to simply do "as they pleased" on AOL but were expected to follow directions from AOL personnel and perform work that assisted AOL in providing services to its paying customers. Much of the work performed by CLs was also performed by AOL’s paid staff (at one point CLs were even referred to by AOL as "remote staff").

So far the Court has refused to dismiss the case and rejected AOL’s claim that the CLs were not "employees" of AOL entitled to the payment of at least a minimum wage (click HERE to read the Court’s prior decision). Based on the prior decisions of the Court, and the law, the attorneys handling this case believe there is an excellent prospect of winning the case on behalf of the CLs and against AOL. But only those CLs who come forward and file a "consent form" with the Court can be sure to benefit from this case if it is successful.

                          AOL CANNOT CLAIM IT COMPLIED WITH THE MINIMUM WAGE 
                      LAWS BY GIVING FREE ACCOUNTS TO COMMUNITY LEADERS
                     AND CANNOT DEDUCT THE VALUE OF THOSE FREE ACCOUNTS
                     FROM ANY MINIMUM WAGES IT OWES THE COMMUNITY LEADERS

    Minimum wages must be paid in real money, not other products such as free AOL accounts. AOL cannot deduct the value of the free accounts it gave the Community Leaders from any minimum wages it owes to the Community Leaders.

                    YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE RECORDS OR PRECISE
                     INFORMATION TO SUCCESSFULLY MAKE A CLAIM

    If you do not recall exactly when you worked for AOL, or no longer have any records about your work for AOL, you should still file a claim if you want an opportunity to recover any money from this case.  The information regarding your work for AOL may exist in AOL's records or the Court may be able to make an award of money to you based upon an estimated or approximate statement by you of your hours of work as a CL.

                    NO ATTORNEY'S FEES WILL BE PAID UNLESS MONEY
                      IS COLLECTED FOR THE COMMUNITY LEADERS

    If you join the case you will not have to pay any attorney's fees out of your pocket.  If no money is collected in the case you will pay no attorney's fee.  If money is collected the attorneys for the Community Leaders will ask the Court to award them a portion of that money as a fee.  Any fee awarded to the attorneys will have to be approved by the Court.

                YOU WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES TO AOL
                IF THIS CASE IS LOST BY THE COMMUNITY LEADERS

    Under the American system each party pays its own attorney fees.  If AOL wins this case it will NOT be entitled to seek payment of its attorney's fees from the Community Leaders.

                 IT IS UNLIKELY THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO 
                TRAVEL  EXTENSIVELY OR INCUR ANY SUBSTANTIAL
                 EXPENSES TO GIVE EVIDENCE IN THIS CASE

    Although you may, at some point, have to give evidence if you join this case, it is very likely that evidence will be in written form, most likely answers to certain written questions or a written statement.  If you are required to give testimony at a deposition (answer questions in person, something that the attorneys bringing this case think is not very likely) that deposition should, hopefully, be held at a location near where you live.  The Court directed that the prior depositions held in this case be conducted near to where the Community Leaders lived.

AOL IS NOT GUARANTEED TO RECEIVE AN AWARD OF
"COSTS" AGAINST PEOPLE JOINING THIS LAWSUIT IF AOL
WINS THE LAWSUIT AND THE "COSTS" THAT AOL IS
ALLOWED TO SEEK ARE VERY LIMITED IN SCOPE

    In the Court approved notice sent out in this matter there is an advisement as to the possibility (NOT certainty) that AOL can be awarded "costs" against participants in this case if AOL wins. The "costs" that AOL may potentially collect are very limited. Things such as the expenses AOL’s attorneys may incur to travel to Court or gather evidence in this case, to make copies of documents in their offices, and so forth, are NOT "costs" that AOL would be entitled to recover. The main "cost" that AOL could, potentially, recover are Court Reporter fees for the taking of witness testimony. Although those fees may run into the thousands of dollars they should not be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If AOL was successful in getting an award of "costs" (something the attorneys for the Community Leaders think is highly unlikely) it can only collect those "costs" once in total, it cannot seek to collect them multiple times from each CL.

The attorneys handling this case on behalf of the Community Leaders believe AOL wants to scare people off from joining this case by making them believe they will be liable for some large amount of "costs" if this case is won by AOL. The attorneys for the Community Leaders believe the "costs" issue is really a "non-issue" and should not concern anyone who is eligible to file a consent to join form in this case. The reasons for that belief are:

    1. AOL has to win this case to seek any award of costs. Based on the prior decisions of the Court the attorneys for the Community Leaders do not believe AOL has any serious chance of winning this case.

    2. If AOL wins the case its entitlement to an award of costs is NOT absolute. The Court may refuse to grant it an award of costs.

    3. If the Court does decide to award costs to AOL it may limit that award to the persons who actually brought this case against AOL and not all of the hundreds or thousands of people who file consents to join in the case. By filing a consent to join in this case you are not causing any "cost" to AOL that AOL is allowed to recover. All you are doing is preserving your legal right to, potentially, make a claim against AOL. A strong argument exists that it would be unfair to hold such persons responsible for any "costs" awarded to AOL.