Lawsuit: Facilities in Will County unlawfully collected biometric data

A former employee of a warehousing facility in Will County is suing the company over alleged privacy violations involving fingerprint and handprint scans that were required to clock in and out of work.

The lawsuit filed Jan. 4 by Richard McGinnis, a former employee for U.S. Cold Storage, claims the company unlawfully collected, stored and disclosed biometric identifiers, such as fingerprints or handprints, belonging to him and about 200 other employees at facilities in Minooka and Wilmington.

U.S. Cold Storage is a New Jersey-based warehousing and transportation company. A call and message to the company was not returned.

McGinnis’ lawsuit is one of many filed by plaintiffs in Illinois that have alleged companies are violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, a 2008 state law that prohibits private entities from collecting people’s biometric identifiers without their consent.

Facebook, Google and Six Flags Great America have each been sued for allegedly violating the law.

McGinnis’ lawsuit is a class action complaint. He is the sole plaintiff. He filed it the day after his federal lawsuit against U.S. Cold Storage was dismissed after a judge found he did not allege concrete injury from the company.

His Will County lawsuit alleged he experienced mental anguish when thinking about what would happen to his biometric data if U.S. Cold Storage went bankrupt or if their biometric system is susceptible to hacking or theft.

McGinnis alleged he worked for U.S. Cold Storage between 2011 and 2015. During that time, the company implemented a biometric scanning system that required him to place his entire hand on a panel to be scanned in order to clock in and out of work.

In federal court filings, U.S. Cold Storage said its hourly employees in Illinois use biometric time clocks to track their time worked and the clocks use a finger or hand scan rather than a key card or identification card.

The company denied the system exposes workers to privacy risks,