CHICAGO - A McDonald's franchisee has been served with a class action lawsuit, accusing the company of violating Illinois' biometrics privacy law for the way in which it requires workers to scan their fingerprints when punching the clock at work.
Named plaintiff Karla Gray filed suit Oct. 29 in Cook County Circuit Court against Brittlan II, LLC, which owns and operates several McDonald's restaurants, alleging the company of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
According to the complaint, Gray worked at the Brittlan-owned McDonald's location at 9560 S. Halsted, Chicago, from April 2020 to October 2021, when Brittlan allegedly sold the restaurant.
Gray represents a class of well over 50 Brittlan II employees who allege that Brittlan II failed to obtain written consent before collecting their fingerprints, did not disclose the length of time for which that information would be stored, and did not disclose that the biometric data would be shared with a third party.
They are seeking damages of $1,000-$5,000 per violation, as allowed under the BIPA law. Individual violations have been defined as each time a worker scans their fingerprint.
Attorneys Megan Shannon, Ryan Stephan, and James Zouras of Stephan Zouras, LLP are representing Gray and the class.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 2021CH05526