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A former employee at the Ace Hotel Chicago has filed a class action lawsuit over the hotel’s use of fingerprints for employees to clock in.
The complaint alleges the Ace Hotel Chicago violates Illinois data privacy laws by not seeking permission to collect the data or communicating its personal data policy.
Noelle Del Toro, the named lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit against Ace Hotel Chicago, alleges the company scanned her fingerprints as part of her onboarding process after she was hired in 2017.
The scans are used by Ace Hotel Chicago payroll systems to track staff clock-ins and -outs, according to the complaint. Del Toro says she was never notified about the particulars of how the company stores, uses or will eventually destroy the sensitive private data.
Ace Hotel Chicago “scanned and collected, and then indefinitely stored in an electronic database, digital copies of each employee’s fingerprints during the employee onboarding process from, and on each occasion an employee clocks in or out of Defendants’ Illinois-based facility — all without ever informing anyone of this practice in writing,” Del Toro says in the class action lawsuit.
Del Toro claims the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) requires organizations using things such as fingerprints, eye scans, voiceprints or other unique unalterable identifiers to obtain consent.
The laws also requires entities that collect so-called biometrics to make public the guidelines and schedules for permanently destroying these records.
The data is also legally required to be protected, stored and moved in a way that keeps it safe.
In addition, BIPA prohibits companies from selling or otherwise profiting from the information.
Del Toro says Ace Hotel Chicago never “adequately informed” her of their biometric data policies, collection practices or destruction schedules.
“BIPA confers … a right a right to know of such risks, which are inherently presented by the collection and storage of biometrics, and a right to know how long such risks will persist after termination of their employment,” Del Toro says in the complaint.
Del Toro is seeking to form a Class of plaintiffs who live in Illinois and have had their fingerprints used by Ace Hotel Chicago in this way without notice.
The class action lawsuit is asking for statutory damages of up to $5,000 for each violation.
The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act is being invoked in scores of other active class action lawsuits, including one involving similar claims of using fingerprints without consent against Panera.
Amazon Web Services is dealing with a class action lawsuit filed in October by customers who are taking issue with its voiceprint technology being used to secure their retirement accounts.
Del Toro says BIPA’s intent is to keep these unique identifiers safe and confidential. Unlike passwords or PINs, this information cannot be changed, she says in the complaint.
“Biometrics, however, are biologically unique to the individual; therefore, once compromised, the individual has no recourse, is at heightened risk for identity theft,” Del Toro says.
Is private biometric data used in your workplace for actions such as clocking in? Were you notified and asked for consent for use of this data? Let us know in the comments below.
Counsel representing the plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit are Gary M. Klinger and Gary E. Mason of Mason Lietz & Klinger LLP.
The Ace Hotel Chicago Class Action Lawsuit is Noelle Del Toro, et al. v. Ace Hotel Chicago LLC, Case No. 1:20-cv-07627 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
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We did this at a previous job
They do this at my work. I work at Kroger.
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