The Illinois Supreme Court rejected a potential defense to claims of alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) when it held that the exclusivity provisions of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act (IWCA) do not bar claims for statutory liquidated damages brought by employees against their employers under the BIPA. McDonald v. Symphony Bronzeville Park, No. 126511 (Feb. 3, 2022).
The plaintiff, Marquita McDonald, claimed that her former employer, Symphony Bronzeville Park, LLC, required its employees to provide purported biometric information through its use of a fingerprint-based timeclock system, but it did not follow certain BIPA requirements. McDonald alleged that, through the use of its timeclock system, Symphony collected employees’ biometrics without properly: (1) informing them in advance and in writing of the specific purpose and length of time for which their fingerprints were being collected, stored, and used; (2) providing a publicly available retention schedule and guidelines for permanently destroying the scanned fingerprints; and (3) obtaining a written release prior to the collection of their fingerprints.
Symphony moved to dismiss McDonald’s claims on the ground that they are barred by the exclusivity provisions of the IWCA, which provides the exclusive means by which an employee can recover against an employer for a negligently caused work-related injury.
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