H&M class action alleges employee fingerprint scans violate biometric privacy

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H&M employee biometric privacy class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: A state judge in Illinois has granted class certification to a class action lawsuit filed against H & M Hennes & Mauritz LP by Jorge Palacios. 
• Why: Palacios claims H&M
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

A state judge in Illinois has granted class certification to claims multinational clothing company H&M violated Illinois biometric privacy law by allegedly requiring its employees to clock in and out of work using a fingerprint scanner. 

Plaintiff Jorge Palacios claims H&M failed to both provide the required disclosures to its employees and get their informed consent — as required by the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) — before collecting their biometric data. 

The class action lawsuit was initially filed against H&M in 2018 by a separate plaintiff — who was replaced by Palacios in 2019 — but was stayed while the Illinois Supreme Court decided on when BIPA claims could accrue, reports Law360. 

The Illinois Supreme Court finally ruled in a 4-3 decision last month, meanwhile, that claims under BIPA can accrue every time biometric data is unlawfully collected and disclosed. 

Following the high court’s decision, Palacios once again attempted to get certification for a class of H&M employees he argued had their fingerprint data collected without their written permission. 

H&M failed to provide required disclosures about biometric data collection, says class action

Palacios claims H&M also failed to provide employees with the required disclosures about why and how long their biometric data was being collected, in addition to allegedly violating BIPA by not providing them with a data retention and destruction policy. 

H&M, meanwhile, was ultimately unsuccessful in arguing that Palacios was not an adequate class representative and that his situation differed from other employees since he claimed he suffered emotional distress, reports Law360. 

A separate class action lawsuit was filed against H&M last November by a pair of consumers arguing the company deceptively markets that its “Conscious Choice” clothing products are sustainable, despite them allegedly not being environmentally friendly. 

Have you had your biometric data collected and stored without your consent? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Doug Werman of Werman Salas PC.

The H&M employee biometric privacy class action lawsuit is Palacios, et al. v. H & M Hennes & Mauritz LP, Case No. 2018CH16030, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. 

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