Class Action: United Scrap Metal Violated Illinois Privacy Law by Collecting Workers’ Fingerprints

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Two plaintiffs claim in a proposed class action that United Scrap Metal, Inc. violated an Illinois privacy law by scanning employees’ fingerprints for timekeeping purposes without making required disclosures or obtaining written consent to do so.

The two workers, one current and one former USM employee who worked at the defendant’s Cicero, Illinois facility, allege USM, throughout their employment, required all workers to scan their fingerprints or handprints each time they clocked into or out of work.

According to the case out of Cook County Circuit Court, the defendant overstepped the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting and storing workers’ biometric identifiers—i.e. fingerprints—without making disclosures required under the law. Per the case, USB failed to check the following boxes prior to collecting employees’ sensitive biometric data:

The lawsuit alleges the plaintiffs and similarly situated employees have “continuously and repeatedly been exposed to risks, harmful conditions, and violations of privacy” as a result of United Scrap Metal’s apparent BIPA violations.

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