More Illinois employers have been added to the ranks of businesses targeted under Illinois' stringent biometrics privacy law.
In the wake of recent Illinois Supreme Court decisions cementing a sweeping, broad reach for the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), class action complaints under the law continue to gain momentum against employers of all kinds and sizes.
A recent round of six new filings landed in Cook County Circuit Court from March 27-April 3, each accusing employers of allegedly improperly scanning employee fingerprints or other so-called biometric identifiers to verify their identity when punching the clock at work.
Attorneys Daniel Schlade and James Dore of Justicia Laboral, of Chicago, filed four of the new cases, including:
Laura Daniela Tover Perdomo, on behalf of herself and others filed a class action claim on April 3 against Sun Belle Inc. Founded in 1988, Sun Belle is a widely recognized brand of fresh fruits and berries;
Gabriela Bautista, on behalf of herself and others filed a new class action on April 3 against Deslauriers Inc. Founded in 1888, Deslauriers is a privately held company with offices in Naperville and La Grange Park, that manufactures and distributes concrete forming and testing accessories including steel and plastic columns;
Adelfo Carrera Vazquez on behalf of himself and others filed a new class action against Lakeshore Recycling LLC on March 30. Operating across 6 Midwestern states, and in Chicago, suburban and outlying communities, Lakeshore is an Illinois waste management services providing curbside waste collection and other residential and commercial services, including rental dumpsters and portable toilets; and
Adrian Lemus, individually and on behalf of others filed a new class action on March 29 against Centurion Container LLC. Centurion Containers supplies industrial packaging, specializing in Industrial Bulk Container)and plastic drum reconditioning and recycling.
Attorney Mark Hammervold, of Hammervold Law, of Elmhurst, filed a class action complaint on March 27 on behalf of Subina Hall and others, against ABM Industries Inc. ABM is a worldwide facility services contractor providing air conditioning, engineering, janitorial, lighting, parking, security, and other outsourced facility services to commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
On April 3, attorney Courtney Elizabeth Ross, of the firm of Carney Bates & Pullliam, of Little Rock, Arkansas, filed a class action complaint on behalf of named plaintiff Gregory Seaway and others against Bridgford Food Processing Inc. Bridgford Food Processing in Chicago employs about 650 people. Bridgford produces and provides food products across the U.S. The company claims it pioneered frozen bread dough in 1962.
While new class action complaints continue to stream into Illinois courts under the BIPA law, a new report has indicated the law, to this point, has served primarily to enrich trial lawyers.
According to the report from the Chamber of Progress, Illinois Supreme Court decisions have opened the floodgates to BIPA-related litigation. The report noted, for instance, that in 2018 only nine class actions were filed under the BIPA law. By 2020, that total had increased to 209 cases in a single year, and they continue to grow.
Two major BIPA-related decisions from the state’s high court were issued in February, likely further fueling the class action surge.
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled a five-year statute of limitations should apply to lawsuits against companies that collected biometric information from employees or customers, allegedly without proper notice or consent. Businesses had sought a one-year time limit.
Two weeks after that decision, a divided court determined each fingerprint scan constitutes a separate BIPA violation. That translates to up to $1,000 in damages for "negligent" violations, and $5,000 for "intentional" ones.
Business leaders and dissenting justices have noted the Illinois Supreme Court's reasoning means employers in the state and other businesses could face potentially catastrophic and "annihilative" financial damages under the current interpretation of the BIPA law. When multiplied across hundreds or thousands of employees, each scanning fingerprints or other biometrics multiple times a day, over a five year period, can easily drive potential payout demands into the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, and then drive employers out of business for technical violations of the law that inflicted no actual harm on anyone.
Business leaders have called for Illinois lawmakers to reform the law, to make clear that the law was never intended to be used in this way. They warn lawmakers that employers and manufacturers are heeding warnings over the real concerns from BIPA-related litigation impacting Illinois' business environment.