A supermarket chain in Illinois has been accused of not following state-level biometric laws covering consent to fingerprinting.A group of workers at Roundy's Supermarkets claim the company's practice of obtaining and retaining employees' fingerprints for timekeeping purposes fails to meet the preconditions of the state's requirements.Specifically, Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) requires employers to: notify workers that their biometric data is being collected and stored; inform workers in writing why and how long the data is being collected; and receive workers' written permission to release biometric data.Each plaintiff in BIPA cases may recover the greater amount of damages or $1,000 for negligent violations of the law, says Lexology. For intentional violations of the law, the collectible damages rise to $5,000. Each plaintiff is entitled to reasonable legal costs and fees.In April, the state of Washington passed House Bill 1493 (“HB 1493”), which sets forth requirements for businesses who collect and use biometric identifiers for commercial purposes.Meanwhile, a number of other states are considering similar legislation.In a settlement last year, the firm L.A. Tan paid $1.5 million to settle class action claims under BIPA after plaintiffs alleged that L.A. Tan's practice of using fingerprint scans to identify its customers violated the statute because L.A. Tan did not get written consent for the scans, failed to inform its customers of its retention policy and disclosed the data to a third party. According to the settlement, L.A. Tan denied the allegations but agreed to comply with BIPA in the future.

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