TCC Wireless has been hit with another class action lawsuit over worker fingerprint scans, even though the company already settled a similar class action.
The suit alleges that Ipina is a former employee of TCC Wireless who worked at a location in Norridge, and was required by the company to clock in and out with a fingerprint scanner, both for beginning and ending of shifts and for breaks. In addition, the suit alleges that data related to the system that held employee biometric data was accessed by a payroll company working on behalf of TCC Wireless.
The suit also alleges that employees were not informed by TCC Wireless regarding how the biometric system worked, how long the information was retained, or how the data collected through the system was used. Ipina alleges that employees never provided consent for that information to be shared with a third party as well.
The lawsuit alleges these actions violated the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act.
Ipina is seeking to have the class include any employees who were not covered by a previous class action suit over the same situation, according to the complaint.
She is seeking injunctive and equitable relief, as well as $1,000-$5,000 in damages per violation, dependent on whether TCC Wireless’ conduct is deemed intentional or reckless. The Illinois BIPA law has been interpreted to define individual violations as each time a worker scans their fingerprint, which could put employers at risk of potentially huge judgments, should the lawsuit go to trial.
Thousands of similar class action lawsuits have been filed under the BIPA law against Illinois employers of all types and sizes in the past six years. Many of these actions have recently resulted in settlements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions of dollars, with plaintiffs' lawyers typically claiming a third of the payout in fees.