Ruling applies 2024 amendment retroactively, slashing billions in potential exposure
The Seventh Circuit just rewrote the math on biometric privacy damages – and employers across Illinois are breathing easier.
On April 1, 2026, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that Illinois's 2024 amendment to the Biometric Information Privacy Act applies retroactively to cases that were already pending when the law took effect. The decision consolidates three appeals – Clay v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, Willis v. Universal Intermodal Services, and Gregg v. Central Transport LLC – and lands squarely on a question that has haunted employers since the Illinois Supreme Court's Cothron v. White Castle decision in 2023: how much can a single employee actually recover when their fingerprint gets scanned hundreds or thousands of times without proper consent?
The answer, according to the Seventh Circuit, is far less than plaintiffs had hoped.
BIPA requires private entities to obtain informed written consent before collecting biometric data such as fingerprints or hand geometry. When employers skip that step – often through biometric time clocks or facility access scanners – they expose themselves to statutory damages of $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional or reckless one. The Cothron decision made things worse for employers by holding that a new claim accrues every single time an employee scans a fingerprint. That turned routine workplace timekeeping...
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