A worker has filed a lawsuit against Centurion Logistics, alleging that the company has violated Illinois biometric privacy laws by using biometric cameras to monitor employees on the job.
Plaintiff Shon Brown filed a class action lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Centurion Logistics, alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
According to court documents, Brown is a current or previous employee of Centurion Logistics, a trucking company doing business in Illinois. He claims that the company uses biometric cameras to monitor the work of employees. The company allegedly has a separate biometric camera for each worker that scans and stores their facial geometry.
The lawsuit states that BIPA laws require that prior to collecting biometric data, including facial geometry scans, companies must inform employees in writing that biometric data will be collected and stored. It also states that employees must be informed in writing of the specific purpose of why the biometric data is being collected and how long it will be stored, and companies must receive a written release from employees for the collection of biometric data.
Brown claims that Centurion failed to inform employees in writing that their data was being collected and stored; failed to inform employees in writing how the data would be used and how long the data would be stored; failed to obtain employee consent to collect their biometric data; failed to provide employees with access to a retention schedule or guidelines for permanently destroying their biometric data; and failed to disclose the identities of any third parties that the company was directly or indirectly sharing the biometric data with.
Brown is seeking certification of his class action lawsuit to represent individuals whose biometrics were scanned into Centurion's system. He is seeking damages of $1,000–$5,000 per alleged violation for himself and everyone in the class action lawsuit, plus interest, attorney's fees, court costs and other relief.
The lawsuit is similar to thousands of others filed in Cook County and other courts in Illinois targeting employers under the BIPA law. The lawsuits can prove costly for employers, as the Illinois Supreme Court has interpreted the law to allow plaintiffs to demand up to $5,000 for each time an employer allegedly scans their biometric identifiers, over a timeframe beginning five years before a lawsuit is filed. Thus, when multiplied across an entire workforce being scanned multiple times per day, damages could quickly climb into the many millions of dollars or more under BIPA lawsuits.
Brown is represented by attorneys William H. Beaumont and Roberto Luis Costales, of Beaumont Costales LLC, in Chicago.
Cook County Circuit Court case number 2023CH09314