A class action lawsuit against Illinois-based lunchmeat manufacturer Carl Buddig and Co. for allegedly violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has been filed in the Cook County Circuit Court.
According to the complaint, filed Feb. 2, Diamond Ellis, the named plaintiff in the case, was among hundreds of Buddig employees whose biometric data was allegedly wrongfully collected, stored and used by the employer. The lawsuit accuses Carl Buddig of allegedly requiring employees to scan fingerprints when punching the clock to begin and end work shifts, without first obtaining written consent from the workers, or providing various notifications allegedly required by the Illinois BIPA law.
The suit is charging Buddig with one count of failure to institute, maintain and adhere to publicly available retention schedule under the BIPA policy, and one count of failure to obtain informed written consent and release before obtaining biometric identifiers of information.
Plaintiffs are seeking damages of $1,000-$5,000 per violation, as allowed under the BIPA law. Individual violations can be defined under the law as each time a worker scans their fingerprints when punching the clock.
According to the complaint, Ellis worked for Carl Buddig from April-October 2020.
The plaintiffs are represented in the action by attorney Keith J. Keogh, of Keogh Law Ltd., of Chicago.