Workers at Woodman’s Food Market stores in Illinois could soon receive about $800 each under a $3.06 million settlement deal between the Wisconsin-based supermarket chain and lawyers suing the company for allegedly violating Illinois’ biometrics privacy law in the way it required workers to scan their fingerprints when punching the clock.
The lawyers for the plaintiffs could receive 33% of the settlement fund, or more than $1 million.
On June 25, a judge in Lake County Circuit Court is expected to consider granting final approval to the deal to end the lawsuit brought against Woodman’s on behalf of hundreds of workers at its Illinois stores.
Gary Klinger
| Mason Lietz & Klinger
Woodman’s operates four supermarkets in Illinois, including locations in suburban Buffalo Grove, Lakemoor, Carpentersville and North Aurora. The chain also operates a store in Rockford.
Woodman’s was sued earlier this year in Lake County court, when attorney Gary M. Klinger, of the firm of Mason Lietz & Klinger, of Chicago, filed a class action complaint on behalf of named plaintiffs, Woodman’s workers Brenna Struck and Tyler Jones.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs accused Woodman’s of failing to abide by notice and consent provisions within the Illinois Biometric Information Protection Act (BIPA) before requiring workers to scan their fingerprints on so-called biometric punch clocks to track their work hours.
The lawsuit was similar to hundreds of other class actions filed under the BIPA law against employers of all sizes and types in recent years.
Under the BIPA law, employers could face potentially massive damage awards, should the case proceed to trial. The law allows plaintiffs to demand damages of up to $5,000 per violation. The law has been interpreted to define individual violations as each time employees scanned their fingerprints, meaning four or more violations per employee every day.
To bring the matter to a quicker conclusion, Woodman’s and Klinger negotiated a settlement worth $3.058 million.
The settlement would cover all current and former Woodman’s workers who scanned their fingerprints at a Woodman’s store since March 2015. Documents posted to the settlement’s website do not indicate how many employees may be included in that total.
Under the deal, those workers could receive a payment of up to $800 each. That amount could be reduced based on the number of current and former Woodman’s workers who submitted claims for a share of the settlement, and based on court ordered payments from the settlement fund to cover the costs of administration and the cost of attorney fees.
Klinger could request up to 33% of the settlement as attorney fees, according to settlement documents posted on the settlement’s website. The lawyers are required to file their formal request for fees by June 18.
The deadline for Woodman’s workers to submit a claim ended on May 11.
A Lake County judge granted preliminary approval to the settlement on March 26.
The judge will consider that request, when the court considers final approval at a hearing scheduled for June 25.