Bimbo Bakeries Agrees To Pay Employees $295K Over Alleged BIPA Violations

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Bimbo Bakeries BIPA Class Action Lawsuit Overview: 

• Who: Bimbo Bakeries came to a $295,000 class action settlement agreement with a Class of employees led by Lisa Peatry.
• Why: Peatry claims Bimbo Bakeries violated Illinois biometric privacy laws by having them track their hours using a fingerprint scanner.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was heard in Illinois federal court.

Bimbo Bakeries has agreed to a $295,000 settlement with employees who alleged it violated Illinois biometric privacy law by requiring them to track their hours using a fingerprint scanner. 

A fund will be set up for the around 232 workers to receive their settlement money, according to the Bimbo Bakeries settlement agreement, which received preliminary approval by an Illinois federal judge on Monday. 

Lead plaintiff Lisa Peatry filed the class action lawsuit in March 2019, alleging Bimbo Bakeries — which produces baked goods under brand names including Sara Lee and Entenmanns — violated biometric privacy laws by using a fingerprint timekeeping system. 

Bimbo Bakeries workers were required to keep track of their hours working at the company’s Cicero, Illinois, facility using a biometric timekeeping device, according to the class action lawsuit.

Bimbo Bakeries BIPA Class Action Settlement

The Class consists of employees who had their biometric data retained, collected, or disclosed by Bimbo Bakeries while working at its Cicero facility between Feb. 9, 2018 and May 8, 2018, according to the motion. 

Peatry claimed that, under the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA), Bimbo Bakeries would have had to obtain written consent, make a publicly available data retention schedule, and set guidelines for how it planned to remove any gathered personal information before it could collect any biometric data. 

Peatry says it took more than two years of litigation that included several depositions and “significant,” discovery practice to reach the settlement agreement. 

The agreement will pay each Class Member around $750, which Peatry says will enable workers to “receive meaningful and significant payments now, instead of years from now or never.”

“The outcome of this litigation is far from certain,” Peatry said. “In addition to any defenses on the merits Defendant would raise, Plaintiff would also otherwise be required to prevail on a class certification motion, which would be highly contested and for which success is certainly not guaranteed.”

Bimbo Bakeries says that, should the class action lawsuit proceed, it would question whether Peatry had sufficiently asserted reckless or intentional BIPA violations worthy of statutory damages and whether the claims were allowed under the statute of limitations. 

The owner of several Wendy’s franchise restaurants came to a $5.85 settlement agreement earlier this month with employees who alleged they were required to clock in and out of work using a fingerprint scanner, in violation of BIPA. 

Do you believe Bimbo Bakeries employees were properly compensated for the alleged BIPA violations? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Catherine T. Mitchell and Ryan F. Stephan of Stephan Zouras, LLP. 

The Bimbo Bakeries BIPA Class Action Lawsuit is Peatry v. Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc., Case No. 1:19-cv-02942, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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