A Michigan-based supplier of ingredients and product mixes for food makers and bakeries has agreed to pay more than $800,000 to settle a class action lawsuit brought by employees who claimed the company violated Illinois’ biometric privacy law in requiring workers to scan their fingerprints when punching the clock.
Next month, a Cook County judge will decide whether to grant final approval to the settlement deal between the plaintiffs and Dawn Food Products.
Dawn Food was sued in March 2020 by three employees, represented by attorneys with the Fish Law Firm, of Naperville.
The class action was brought on behalf of those who worked at Dawn Foods’ facility in Manteno since 2015.
The class action was similar to thousands of others brought against Illinois employers under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) since 2015. Under the lawsuit, Dawn Foods was accused of failing to abide by technical notice and consent provisions contained within the BIPA law before requiring its workers to scan their fingerprints on the company’s biometric timeclocks when beginning and ending work shifts at the Manteno plant.
The lawsuit sought damages of $1,000-$5,000 per violation, as allowed under the BIPA law. The law has been interpreted to define individual violations as each time an employee would scan their fingerprints.
When multiplied across hundreds of workers, the potential damages could amount to what some employers and their advocates have called “crippling” sums of many millions of dollars.
To bring the lawsuit to an end, Dawn Foods, like many employers in recent weeks, opted to settle.
Under the deal, Dawn Foods agreed to pay a total of $807,196 into a settlement fund. From that fund, attorneys with the Fish firm could stand to receive 35% of the total settlement, or about $283,000.
The settlement would also pay out about $645 each to about 722 employees who worked at the Dawn Foods Manteno plant.
Cook County Associate Judge Allen Price Walker granted preliminary approval to the deal on Feb. 17.
Workers have until June 15 to submit a claim to be included in the settlement.
Judge Walker is scheduled to hold a final approval hearing on June 29, according to court documents.
Dawn Foods has been represented by attorney Molly K. McGinley, of the firm of K&L Gates LLP, of Chicago.