Hematogenix Laboratory Services Hit with Privacy Class Action Over Employee Fingerprint Scans

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A proposed class action alleges Hematogenix Laboratory Services, LLC has scanned workers’ fingerprints for timekeeping purposes without first securing express consent to do so or making mandatory disclosures.

According to the 19-page lawsuit, the Tinley Park, Illinois testing laboratory has overstepped the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting workers’ biometric information, i.e., fingerprints, without securing their consent or providing required disclosures with regard its collection practices and retention policy.

Per the case, biometrics are unlike ID badges or timecards in that they are unique, permanent identifiers that cannot be changed or replaced if compromised. The suit claims the defendant’s alleged collection and use of employees’ fingerprints without adhering to the BIPA has exposed workers to “serious and irreversible privacy risks.”

More specifically, the case claims Hematogenix has violated the BIPA by failing to:

• Inform workers in writing of the specific purpose and length of time for which their biometric information will be collected, stored, disseminated and used;
• Provide a publicly available retention schedule and guidelines for how the data will be permanently destroyed; and
• Receive a written release from employees to collect, store, disseminate or otherwise use their fingerprints.

The plaintiff, who worked as a flow technologist at the defendant’s lab between March 2017 and February 2021, says he was required to clock in and out of Hematogenix’s timekeeping system by scanning his finger. According to the suit, the plaintiff was never provided with proper disclosures regarding the collection and use of his biometric data and never signed a written release consenting to such. The plaintiff and others, the lawsuit argues, have been “continuously and repeatedly” exposed to “risks and harmful conditions” as a result of the defendant’s conduct.

“BIPA protects employees like Plaintiff and the putative Class from this precise conduct, and Defendant had no right to secure this data,” the complaint alleges.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who was enrolled in the defendant’s biometric timekeeping system and used a biometric timeclock while employed by the company in Illinois during the applicable statutory period.

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