More than 14,000 people who scanned their fingerprints when punching a timeclock made by human resources giant Ceridian could be in line for a bit of money, under a $3.5 million settlement to end a class action lawsuit against Ceridian under Illinois’ biometrics privacy law.
The lawyers who brought the lawsuit could receive up to 35% of the fund, or about $1.23 million.
In May, Cook County Circuit Judge Raymond W. Mitchell granted preliminary approval of the settlement deal. In that order, Judge Mitchell gave people seeking to receive a piece of the settlement until Sept. 30 to submit their claims.
According to settlement documents, eligible claimants could receive from $790 to $1,580 each, depending on how many others also submit eligible claims.
The list of those able to claim a cut of the settlement could include anyone who scanned their fingerprint on a Ceridian-issued workplace timeclock between May 2014-May 2022.
The settlement ends a class action lawsuit that has been pending in Cook County court for more than three years.
In May 2019, attorneys with the firms of Edelson P.C., of Chicago, and Fish Potter Bolaños, of Naperville, filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court. The lawsuit accused Ceridian of violating the law known as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
The lawsuit centered on Ceridian’s “cloud-based time and attendance system” known as Dayforce. According to the complaint, Ceridian supplied a number of employers, including those in Illinois, with so-called biometric time clocks. The devices require workers to scan their fingerprints to verify their identity each time they punch in and out of work shifts. Employers use the fingerprint scans to reduce so-called “punch fraud,” in which workers may punch the clock on behalf of co-workers, allowing them to receive their full wages, even when they may arrive late for work or leave work early.
According to the lawsuit, however, Ceridian’s devices scanned and stored worker’s fingerprints without first collecting written authorization from the workers, or without first supplying the workers with certain notices concerning how the scans would be stored, used and ultimately destroyed, as allegedly required by the BIPA law.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of named plaintiff Rachel Labarre, who claimed she used a Ceridian timeclock device at a Standard Market grocery store in Chicago’s western suburbs from 2018-2019.
Since 2015, thousands of BIPA-related class action lawsuits have been filed in Illinois courts, primarily in Cook County. The bulk of the lawsuits have taken aim at employers, claiming they violated the BIPA law’s notice and consent provisions in the way they required workers to scan fingerprints to verify their identity when punching the clock at work.
However, since 2018, many of the lawsuits also directly targeted human resource firms, including Ceridian and its competitors, such as ADP and Kronos, who supply devices and software to employers to help them track their workers hours and attendance.
Judges have rejected claims from those human resources vendors that they should not be able to be sued for the alleged failure of their employer customers to abide by the technical notice and consent provisions of the BIPA law.
Judges have also not sided with the vendors when they argued plaintiffs’ lawyers engaged in “gamesmanship” by bringing class actions on behalf of the same workers against both their employer and their employers’ human resource tech providers, leveling identical claims.
However, none of the lawsuits against the human resources vendors have yet gone to trial.
Under the BIPA law, plaintiffs can demand money damages of $1,000-$5,000 per violation. The exact definition of a violation under the BIPA law remains the subject of arguments in court. However, many have interpreted the law to define a violation as each time a face scan takes place. So, if one employee scans their fingerprints without first meeting the requirements of the BIPA law’s notice and consent provisions, the law could be read to mean each of those scans stands as a separate violation.
According to the Ceridian settlement documents, the class of eligible plaintiffs could include more than 14,000 people, potentially exposing Ceridian to massive damages approaching $100 million or more, should the vendor lose at trial.
Faced with such potential risk, Ceridian opted to settle, as did several of its competitors who also were hit with class action suits under the BIPA law.
ADP, for instance, agreed to pay $25 million, while Kronos agreed to pay $15 million. Other competitors also have settled. Paychex paid $3.4 million, and NovaTime paid $14 million.
The Edelson firm represented plaintiffs in the actions against ADP and Kronos, as well.
Judge Mitchell scheduled a final approval hearing for the settlement in early October. However, on July 6, Mitchell was appointed to the Illinois First District Appellate Court, meaning another judge will consider final approval for the settlement.
In the action against Ceridian, Labarre and the plaintiffs’ class were represented by attorneys Schuyler Ufkes, J. Eli Wade-Scott and Jay Edelson, of the Edelson firm; and David Fish, of Fish Potter Bolaños.
Ceridian has been represented by attorneys Molly K. McGinley, Kenn Brotman and Marvis A. Barnes II, of K&L Gates LLP, of Chicago.