Extract from David Horrigan’s article “Data Privacy Law Update: Federal Law Preempted Illinois Biometric Law — Up to a Point”
The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has changed the data privacy landscape—especially after the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision last year in Rosenbach v. Six Flags Ent. Corp., where the state’s high court held that a mere violation of the statute, the taking of a 14-year-old’s fingerprints without parental consent, was sufficient to state a claim—even if no other damages were proven.
Well, it turns out Six Flags wasn’t the only business in Illinois taking people’s fingerprints. Bimbo Bakeries USA used fingerprints instead of that 20th century antiquity, the timeclock, to record employee hours.
One of Bimbo’s employees, Lisa Peatry, alleged the company violated BIPA by the way it took her fingerprints. However, unlike in Rosenbach, Bimbo had another legal argument: federal preemption under federal labor law.
