Bimbo Bakeries BIPA Class Action Trimmed

By Emily Sortor | March 11, 2020

Category: Legal News

Bimbo Bakeries fingerprint scan A judge has denied efforts by Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc. to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging that the company violated Illinois’ biometric privacy law.

Bimbo Bakeries, who is the maker of popular brands like Entenmann’s and Sara Lee, argued that the employee who filed the biometric privacy class action lawsuit should not be allowed to do so because of a collective bargaining agreement struck by a union that affected her work.

However, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis determined that the employee could file claims for alleged violations of Illinois law that occurred before that agreement went into effect.

The Bimbo Bakeries employee privacy class action lawsuit was filed by Lisa Peatry in March. She says that, during her employment at the company, Bimbo Bakeries used a biometric timekeeping device to track employee hours.

Allegedly, when an employee begins their time at the company, their fingerprints are scanned and entered into a database. According to Peatry, employees then use fingerprints to clock in and out.

The BIPA violation class action lawsuit claims that Bimbo Bakeries violates Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by not informing workers that their fingerprints are shared with third party vendors who host the database.

Additionally, Peatry argues that the company violates the law by not providing workers with a “written, publicly available policy” explaining how long the information will be retained, and when and how it will be destroyed.

According to Peatry these violations took place both before and after 2018. However, Judge Ellis determined that she cannot make claims for violations that took place after a collective bargaining agreement took place, because the agreement includes a grievance procedure requiring employees to “exhaust administrative remedies before bringing a suit in federal court.”

The judge stated that in this instance, the union that made the collective bargaining agreement was the “sole and exclusive bargaining agent” around her conditions of employment, though Peatry argued that it was she, and not the union, who had to consent to the use of her biometric information.

In attempting to have the privacy class action lawsuit thrown out, Bimbo Bakeries not only argues that Peatry was barred from filing a lawsuit in federal court because of the grievance procedure, the company also argued that Peatry’s pre-2018 claims were also barred under the Illinois Workers Compensation Act and the National Labor Relations Act, but the judge determined that this was not the case.

Have you had your biometric information collected by an employer? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.

Peatry is represented by Ryan F. Stephan and Catherine T. Mitchell fo Stephan Zouras LLP.

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