White Castle Class Action Says Fingerprints Required to View Pay Stubs

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

A class action lawsuit against White Castle and a technology company claims that using employee fingerprints to obtain pay stubs violates Illinois’ privacy law.

Lead plaintiff Latrina Cothron alleges in her class action lawsuit that she and other White Castle employees are required to submit and use their fingerprints to verify their identities while working at the fast food giant.

Specifically, White Castle, using software from Cross Match Technologies Inc., reportedly requires employees to have their fingerprints stored and scanned to obtain their pay stubs.

Cothron alleges that she is an Illinois citizen who worked at White Castle and was required to provide a scan of her fingerprints. She says that she further had to use her fingerprint scan to access her pay stub each week.

According to the White Castle class action lawsuit, the collection and storage of biometric information puts White Castle employees at risk of fraud and identify theft.

Further, it is a violation of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, says the plaintiff.

“Unlike ID badges – which can be changed for replaced if stolen or compromised – fingerprints are unique, permanent biometric identifiers associated with each employee,” explains the White Castle class action. “This exposes White Castle’s employees to serious and irreversible privacy risks.”

The plaintiff points to a number of major data breaches affecting Yahoo, eBay, Uber, Panera, Trump Hotels, Marriott, and other large companies, as examples of situations where individuals were unable to protect their information from hackers.

Additionally, the biometric information of over 21.5 million federal workers was exposed in a 2015 data breach at the United States Office of Personnel Management, alleges the White Castle class action lawsuit.

“An illegal market already exists for biometric data,” contends the White Castle class action lawsuit. “Recognizing the need to protect its citizens from situations like these, Illinois enacted the Biometric Privacy Act (‘BIPA’) …specifically to regulate companies that collect, store and use Illinois citizens’ biometrics, such as fingerprints.”

According to the White Castle employee class action lawsuit, the BIPA was initiated by Illinois lawmakers after a major company that used biometric information, Pay By Touch, fell into bankruptcy.

There were no legal protections for consumers who had submitted their biometric information, in this case fingerprints, to the bankrupt company and lawmakers were alarmed by the fact that this information could then be sold to third parties.

The plaintiff contends that she and other White Castle workers in Illinois were not informed, as required under BIPA, about the collection and use of their fingerprints. Specifically, White Castle failed to:

• Properly inform Illinois workers, in writing, about “the specific purpose and length of time for which their fingerprints were being collected, stored, disseminated and used”;
• Provide a retention schedule and guidelines for destruction of their fingerprints; and
• Obtain a written release from Class Members as required under BIPA.

Companies who are found to be in violation of BIPA face steep fines, according to the White Castle class action lawsuit, of up to $1,000 per violation or actual damages.

Defendant Cross Match is currently attempting to move White Castle class action lawsuit to federal court.

The lead plaintiff is represented by Ryan F. Stephan and Andrew C. Ficzko of Stephan Zouras LLP.

The White Castle Employee Fingerprint Pay Stubs Class Action Lawsuit is Cothron v. White Castle System Inc., et al., Case No. 1:19-cv-00382, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.