The University Club of Chicago has been hit with a class action lawsuit, accusing it of improperly requiring workers to scan their fingerprints to prove their identity when punching the clock at work, allegedly violating Illinois' biometrics privacy law.
The suit was filed by attorney Megan E. Shannon, and others with the firm of Stephan Zouras, of Chicago, on behalf of named plaintiff Marlon Stokes in Cook County Circuit Court.
The suit alleges that a fingerprint constitutes a unique, permanent biometric identifier, and that the collection and retention of biometric data presents a significantly greater risk to employees than the use of ID badges or timecards.
According to the complaint, UCC allegedly has violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by failing to properly inform employees in writing of the specific purpose and length of time for which fingerprints are collected and stored; by allegedly failing to provide a publicly-available retention schedule and guidelines for permanently disposing of the data; by allegedly failing to obtain a written release from employees; and by allegedly failing to obtain consent in regard to sharing the data with a third party.
Stokes is seeking an award of $1,000-$5,000 per violation, dependent on whether the violation is determined to be intentional or reckless, as allowed under the BIPA law. They are also seeking 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 on a timeclock, potentially exposing businesses of many types and sizes to potentially massive damage awards, should the case proceed to trial.
The lawsuit is similar to thousands of other class actions brought against businesses in Illinois under the BIPA law in recent years.