LinkedIn settles $18 million class action lawsuit over reminder emails

LINKEDIN will pay nearly $20 million to disgruntled users following a class-action lawsuit relating to emails sent by the company.

LinkedIn. Picture: iStock to go with question: How far back should my LinkedIn resume go - do employers want to know where I worked part-time during high school?

LINKEDIN has agreed to pay nearly $20 million to disgruntled users following a class-action lawsuit which accused the professional networking site of sending unwanted and deceptive emails.

The $US13 million ($A18.34 million) settlement relates to the site’s Add Connections feature, which imports contacts from the users’ email account so LinkedIn can then send out invitation emails.

The 2013 suit accused LinkedIn of “[deceiving] its users into providing it with their third-party email addresses” and “repeatedly [spamming] the owners of the email addresses thus harvested with emails that appear to be sent by the unwitting LinkedIn member”.

While the court disagreed with a number of the allegations, it “suggested that we could be more clear about the fact that we send reminder emails about pending invitations”, the company said in a statement to Business Insider.

The court found while the user gave their permission to send the initial email, they did not consent to LinkedIn then sending two follow-up emails, which contained the user’s face and image, giving the impression the member was the one sending the message.

LinkedIn says it denies the allegations and “any and all wrongdoing or liability”.

“No court or other entity has made a judgment or other determination of any liability,” it said.

Users were notified of the settlement in an email on Friday.

Any current or former US member of the site who used the Add Connections feature between September 17, 2011 and October 31, 2014 can submit a claim for part of the $US13 million, with a maximum payout of $US1,500 ($A2,117) each.

If the number of approved claims results in a payment of less than $US10 each — in other words 1.3 million members — LinkedIn says it will chip an extra $US750,000 ($A1.06 million) into the fund.

In a statement, a LinkedIn spokesman told news.com.au: “We decided to resolve this case in order to focus on finding additional ways to improve our members’ experiences on LinkedIn.”

Originally published as LinkedIn settles $18 million class action lawsuit over reminder emails