CHICAGO -- An office furniture seller and its corporate parent has been hit with a class action lawsuit, accusing it of violating an Illinois biometric privacy law by requiring workers to scan their fingerprints when punching the time clock each shift.
On July 22, Arturo N. Bedolla filed a class action complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against his ex-employer, Office Furniture LLC, as well as Wurkwel Ventures LLC. The lawsuit accuses the companies of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by making workers use a so-called biometric time clock to track their work hours.
The complaint asserts Office Furniture and Wurkwel did not first get written consent from the workers before establishing the biometric time keeping system to authenticate workers' hours for payroll.
The complaint said the defendants also did not disclose to workers how the information was being stored and how it would be destroyed.
Bedolla's class action seeks a declaration that the defendants violated BIPA and statutory damages of $1,000-$5,000 for each violation, plus attorney fees and other relief.
Bedolla is represented by attorneys William P.N. Kingston and Jad Sheikali, of McGuire Law P.C., of Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2019-CH-8550