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Walmart Fingerprint Scanners Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: An Illinois employee lodged a class action lawsuit against Walmart Inc.
- Why: The plaintiff claims Walmart puts employee privacy at risk by requiring them to track their hours with a fingerprint scanner.
- Where: The class action lawsuit is pending in Illinois circuit court.
Walmart Inc puts its employees’ privacy at risk by requiring them to clock in and out of work using a fingerprint scanner, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Lead plaintiff Breonna Anthony claims Walmart’s biometric time clock policy puts employees at “serious and irreversible” risk of privacy loss if its fingerprint database is ever breached by hackers.
Further, Anthony claims Walmart is in violation of the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act (BIPA), which requires companies to abide by certain guidelines before they can collect and store biometric data.
Anthony wants to represent an Illinois Class of Walmart employees who had their fingerprint obtained, scanned, collected, captured, received, stored, or disclosed by the company.
Walmart Employee Says She Was Forced to Use Fingerprint Scanner in Class Action
Anthony says she was required to scan her fingerprint in order to track her time working as a Walmart fitting room attendant.
Walmart never informed Anthony in writing or otherwise how long her biometric data was being collected for or how it planned to permanently dispose of it, violating BIPA, the class action lawsuit alleges.
Anthony claims Walmart also violated BIPA by failing to obtain her permission in the form of a written release to collect her biometric data and by never getting her consent to share it with third parties.
“(Anthony) would not have provided her biometric data to (Walmart) if she had known that (Walmart) would retain such information for an indefinite period of time without her consent,” states the class action lawsuit.
Anthony is requesting statutory damages of $5,000 for each intentional and/or reckless alleged BIPA violation, along with injunctive and other equitable relief for herself and all Class Members.
Walmart faced a similar class action lawsuit back in 2019 over allegations it violated BIPA regulations with handprint scanners that gave employees access to its cash register system.
Did Walmart require you to clock in and out work using a fingerprint scanner? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Ryan F. Stephan, James B. Zouras, Catherine T. Mitchell of Stephan Zouras, LLP.
The Walmart Fingerprint Scanners BIPA Class Action Lawsuit is Anthony v. Walmart Inc., Case No. 2021 CH 05385, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.
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13 thoughts onWalmart Fingerprint Scanner Violates BIPA, Endanger Privacy of Employees, Says Class Action
They violated my hand 3 times and then I didn’t sign nothing and was not told I will be doing this as a new employee.
My hand print didn’t work and I was asked to enter a pin in which manager saw my pin number.
Please add me