Wendy’s class action says fingerprinting time clock violates law

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A class action lawsuit claims Wendy’s requires its fast food restaurant employees to scan their fingerprints to clock in and out of work in violation of Illinois’ state law.

Plaintiffs Martinique Owens and Amelia Garcia allege that Wendy’s International LLC makes it a practice of collecting employee fingerprints when they first get hired on with the company.

The Wendy’s class action lawsuit claims this is a direct violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act because the restaurant chain does not obtain a written release from its employees to collect their fingerprints nor do they inform them about the length of time the fingerprints will be stored.

Owens and Garcia admit that there may be benefits to using a employee fingerprinting time clock, but it’s not without “serious risks.”

“Unlike key fobs or identification cards – which can be replaced if stolen or compromised – fingerprints are unique, permanent biometric identifiers associated with the employee,” the Wendy’s employee class action lawsuit states. “This exposes employees to serious and irreversible privacy risks.”

The plaintiffs say that if the system that stores this private information gets hacked, workers remain extremely vulnerable to identity theft.

In addition to requiring employees to clock in and out by using their fingerprint scans, Wendy’s employees say they are also forced to use their biometric scans to access and unlock Wendy’s cash registers.

Since Wendy’s doesn’t inform its workers about the length it will store their biometric identifiers, the BIPA class action lawsuit states that employees who leave the company have no idea if their fingerprints will ever be removed from the Wendy’s database.

BIPA was enacted in Illinois back in 2008 with its goal of protecting the biometric information of its residents.

The state law requires any company who collects fingerprints (or other biometric identifiers) to inform the individual in writing to explain why their fingerprints are being collected, get permission from the person, explain the length of time it will be stored and used, and provide a schedule and/or timeline for permanently destroying the biometric information.

“It is crucial for people to understand when providing biometric data who exactly is collecting it, who it will be transmitted to, for what purposes, and for how long,” the Wendy’s employee class action lawsuit states.

“Ultimately, Wendy’s disregards its employee’s statutorily protected privacy rights by violating the BIPA.”

Wendy’s is just the latest company to face a biometric privacy class action lawsuit. In the past year, Southwest Airlines, Facebook, Crate & Barrel and Holiday Inn have all faced class action lawsuits regarding alleged biometric privacy violations.

The plaintiffs seek to represent “All residents of the State of Illinois who had their fingerprints collected, captured, received, otherwise obtained, or disclosed by Wendy’s while residing in Illinois.”

The employees are represented by Benjamin Richman and J. Eli Wade-Scott of Edelson PC and by David Fish and John Kunze of The Fish Law Firm PC.

The Wendy’s employees’ fingerprints data collection class action lawsuit is Martinique Owens and Amelia Garcia v. Wendy’s International LLC, et al., Case No. 2018­-ch-­11423, in the Circuit Court of Cook County.