Another business may have run afoul of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Kevin Truss has filed a class action lawsuit against Four Seasons Heating & Air Conditioning Inc., alleging that the Chicago-based company violated the law when it forced him to scan his biometric information in order to clock in and out for work.
According to the complaint, Four Seasons did not provide employees (including Truss) with sufficient notification about the BIPA law, and similarly did not have adequate consent when implementing its timecard procedures. The class action lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on August 20th, with Truss seeking statutory damages damages of $1,000 to $5,000 per violation, in addition to interest and legal fees.
The action comes shortly after similar lawsuits were filed against Burger King and Gurtler Chemicals, and adds to the rapidly growing trend of BIPA lawsuits that includes the ongoing class action lawsuit against Facebook. The latest news suggests that Illinois law firms were prescient when they began hiring biometrics specialists to meet an anticipated demand. More recently, the insurance provider Chubb has also predicted that the number of biometric privacy lawsuits will start to climb in the next few years.
Source: Cook County Record
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September 19, 2019 – by Eric Weiss
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