Commercial printer JohnsByrne has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing the company of wrongly requiring workers to scan their fingerprints when punching the clock.
The company allegedly is violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), according to the lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of named plaintiff Sean Krigsholm, who worked as a pressman at the company's Niles facility from 2018-2020, according to the complaint.
"While many employers use conventional methods for time tracking (such as ID badge or punch clocks), JohnsByrne hourly-paid workers are required to have their fingerprints scanned by a biometric timekeeping device," the suit says. "When an individual is hired to work at Defendant’s Illinois location, including Plaintiff, they are enrolled in Defendant’s biometric timekeeping system using their fingerprint."
Unlike identification badges or timecards which can be replaced if stolen, "eyes, fingerprints, voiceprints, and face geometry are unique, permanent biometric identifiers associated with each worker," the suit says. "This exposes Defendant’s workers to serious and irreversible privacy risks."
Under BIPA, companies must obtain written releases from employees who request it, the suit said.
The law also requires that a company provide workers with a schedule for "permanently destroying their fingerprints when the initial purpose for collecting or obtaining their fingerprints is no longer relevant," according to the suit.
Krigsholm allegedly did not sign a release and has not been provided with a retention schedule for the personal data, the suit says.
It seeks damages of $5,000 for each intentional violation of the law and $1,000 for each negligent violation.
Payouts under such lawsuits can quickly climb to what judges and defendants alike have described as "astronomical" levels, after the Illinois Supreme Court recently ruled that the BIPA law should be interpreted to define "individual violations" as each time a company scans someone's biometric identifier over a period beginning five years before the lawsuit was filed. When multiplied across entire workforces, potential judgments under BIPA could spiral quickly into many millions of dollars.
The Illinois Supreme Court has also repeatedly ruled that plaintiffs don't ever have to actually prove they were harmed by the alleged improper collection of their biometric data to make such payment claims.
Attorneys typically claim about one third of such payouts.
The plantiffs are represented by attorneys Ryan Stephan and James B. Zouras, of the firm of Stephan Zouras, of Chicago.