Employers in Illinois who collect, use, or retain their employees’ biometric data—personal information such as fingerprints or facial or voice recognition—need to be aware of a recent legal development.
As we have explained before, Illinois was the first state to enact a law restricting the collection and storage of biometrics, and it remains the frontline for advancement of jurisprudence on the subject. The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) requires entities, including employers, that collect biometric data to follow a number of protocols, including maintaining a written policy about the collection and storage of biometric data, providing owners of biometric information (in this case employees) with written notice of such practices, and obtaining informed consent from individuals subject to biometric data collection. Since its enactment in 2008, BIPA has given rise to a lot of litigation, including many employment class action suits.
One such class action was the subject of an important decision issued on February 3, 2022, by the Illinois Supreme Court. In McDonald v. Symphony Bronzeville Park LLC, et al. (2022 IL 126511), the state’s highest court issued a unanimous opinion that effectively eliminated an entire defense in BIPA lawsuits. The lawsuit was a putative class action brought by an employee against her health care facility employer. As part of its security and timekeeping...
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