Plastics manufacturers Siffron and Pexco have been hit with a class action, accusing them of improperly requiring workers to scan fingerprints, allegedly without proper notice and consent under Illinois' biometrics privacy law.
The suit involves allegations related to Pexco’s former retail business, which is currently operated by Siffron. It is alleged that the companies use fingerprint scanning for employees to clock in and out, and requires them to have their fingerprints scanned to be entered into the companies' time tracking system.
The suit alleges that this procedure has been continued under Siffron’s ownership.
The suit alleges that the time tracking system and use of employee biometic data is a violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, because the companies allegedly did not provide employees with allegedly required notices under the BIPA law concerning how long the information will be retained and used. The lawsuit further alleges the companies failed to develop a retention schedule for destroying the data, and allegedly failed to obtain a written release from employees.
According to the complaint, Miranda worked at the Pexco/Siffron manufacturing plant in Des Plaines.
Miranda is seeking damages of $1,000-$5,000 per violation, as well as injunctive and equitable relief and attorney fees. The BIPA law has been interpreted to define individual violations as each time an employee scans their fingerprint, potentially putting employers at risk of massive payouts worth many millions of dollars, or more, should the case go to trial.
The lawsuit is similar to thousands of other BIPA-related class actions brought in Illinois courts in recent years against employers and businesses of all sizes and types.