CHICAGO — A worker has filed a class action lawsuit against St. Bernard Hospital, St. Bernard Health Network and the St. Bernard Foundation, alleging the hospital and its affiliated entities violated a state privacy law by compelling employees to scan their fingerprints for use with an employee punch clock, without first obtaining written consent.
Corey Heard filed a complaint on Dec. 21 in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging the defendants allegedly disregarded their employees' privacy rights under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by failing to inform them why their biometric information was being collected and for how long they would store it.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks injunctive relief and other equitable relief, court costs, statutory damages of $5,000 for each willful violation of BIPA, $1,000 for each negligent violation of BIPA and any further relief this court grants. He is represented by Ryan F. Stephan and James B. Zouras of Stephan Zouras LLP in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 2017CH16828