Housekeeping Services Provider Xanitos Hit with Biometric Privacy Class Action Over Employee Fingerprint Scanning

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Xanitos, Inc. is the defendant in a proposed class action wherein a former employee alleges the housekeeping services provider has violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by requiring workers to scan their fingerprints at the beginning and end of each workday without proper authorization or disclosures.

According to the suit, Xanitos requires employees to scan their fingerprints as a means of authentication and tracking work hours. The case says that while there is a benefit for employers who utilize fingerprint scanning rather than, say, keycards, there also exists for employees a risk that their personal biometric data could be exposed should a fingerprint database become compromised.

The plaintiff, who the case says worked for Xanitos at Health Adventist Medical Center, alleges he was never informed by the defendant of the specific purposes or length of time for which his fingerprint would be collected, stored or used. Moreover, the suit claims Xanitos has never informed employees of any biometric data retention policy, nor whether their fingerprints will ever be permanently deleted.

All told, the lawsuit claims Xanitos ran afoul of the BIPA in failing to: