CHICAGO — Ramp supervisors have filed a class action lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, accusing the company of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by making employees scan their fingerprints to clock in and out of work shifts.
Darrell Crooms, John Lopez, Latrice Saxon and Stephanie Hill, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a complaint on Feb. 6 in Cook County Circuit Court against Southwest Airlines and Kronos Inc.
According to the complaint, plaintiffs who work at Midway Airport were required by Southwest to scan their fingerprints so they could be used as a method to track their work hours. Plaintiffs allege defendants subsequently stored their fingerprint data in its database, provided by defendant Kronos.
However, plaintiff and the class of employees claim they were never informed of the purposes or length of time for which any defendant's biometric data was collected, stored, used or disseminated. As a result, plaintiffs claim they have continuously and repeatedly been exposed to the risks and harm of identity theft.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek declaratory judgment, statutory damages of $5,000 per violation, attorney fees, costs, pre and post-judgment interest, and other relief. They are represented by Ryan Stephan, James Zouras and Andrew Ficzko of Stephan Zouras LLP in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 19-CH-01610.