Brian E. Spang, a Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Chicago office, was quoted in Skilled Nursing News, in “Worker Sues SNF Employer Over ‘Invasive’ Fingerprint Scans,” by Tim Regan.
Following is an excerpt:
An employee of a skilled nursing and rehab center in Illinois is taking his employer to court over mandatory fingerprint scans he says violate a state privacy law. …
This case is the most recent in a wave of BIPA suits filed against companies in recent months, according to Brian Spang, an attorney in the Chicago office of national law firm Epstein Becker Green. Grocery store chain Roundy’s Supermarkets, Kimpton hotels and data center operator Zayo Group have all recently ended up in the crosshairs of such lawsuits, the Chicago Tribune reported.
“These cases raise significant questions relating to standing and actual injury,” Spang told Skilled Nursing News. “Even if a technical violation of the statutory requirements has occurred, it seems extremely unlikely that a plaintiff has suffered any type of injury. Plaintiffs’ counsel are filing class action seeking statutory liquidated damages in the likely absence of any actual harm to any individual.”
Other Illinois nursing homes could be vulnerable to such suits in the future if they use similar fingerprint scanning or other biometric data collection methods, Spang said.
