OSF Healthcare has become one of the latest big employers in Illinois targeted by a class action lawsuit over alleged violations of Illinois' biometrics privacy law.
The hospital operator required employees to to scan their fingerprints in order to access patient medications, says the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
OSF operates 15 hospitals in downstate Illinois, but none in Chicago or Cook County, even though the lawsuit was filed in Cook County court.
The lawsuit accuses them of violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA.)
"Unlike ID badges or key fobs - which can be changed or replaced if stolen or compromised - fingerprints are unique, permanent biometric identifiers associated with each worker," the lawsuit states. "If a database containing fingerprints or other sensitive, proprietary biometric data is hacked, breached, or otherwise exposed, employees have no means by which to prevent identity theft, unauthorized tracking or other unlawful or improper use of this highly personal and private information."
OSF allegedly improperly discloses employee fingerprint data to "other, currently unknown, third parties, including, but not limited to third parties that host biometric data in their data center(s)," the lawsuit states.
The company has also failed to destroy the biometric data "when the initial purpose for collecting or obtaining such data has been satisfied or within three years of Plaintiff’s and other similarly-situated employment at OSF," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit accuses OSF of failing to obtain consent from workers or providing them certain notices allegedly required by the BIPA law before requiring them to scan their fingerprints on the medication dispensing systems
The lawsuit seeks $5,000 for each intentional and/or reckless violation of the law and $1,000 for each negligent violation.
Damages under the lawsuit could be steep, as the Illinois Supreme Court has interpreted the BIPA law to allow plaintiffs to demand damages for each time an employee may be required to scan their fingerprints at work, with no limit, going back over the preceding five years.
The plaintiffs are represented by Ryan F. Stephan, James B. Zouras, Catherine Mitchell and Lauren A. Warwick, of Stephan Zouras, of Chicago.
The lead plaintiff Corey Heard and his attorneys from the firm of Stephan Zouras have partnered on other class actions against health care organizations and the Becton-Dickinson company, which makes the Pyxis medication dispensing system, since 2019.