A potential class action lawsuit filed Aug. 17 against Senior Lifestyle Corp. accuses the company of not informing workers in writing about how it would protect the digital fingerprint scans that it required of employees, the Cook County Record reports.
In that regard, the company violated the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act, according to the law firm that brought the suit, Edelson P.C.
“We will be defending the action, but unfortunately we are unable to comment on current litigation,” Senior Lifestyle Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Cherie Dupor told McKnight’s Senior Living. The company, based in Chicago, has 51 communities in Illinois, offering various levels of services and care across the continuum of seniors housing and long-term residential care, and has communities in 26 additional states, according to its website.
According to the lawsuit, Senior Lifestyle required employees to scan their fingerprints into a company database. Workers then would use the digital information to punch in and out of their work shifts and for other job-related purposes.
The company, however, did not tell workers in writing who was collecting the data, how it would be stored and for how long, and what would happen to the digital fingerprints of employees who left the company, according to Edelson P.C.
Named in the lawsuit, according to the Cook County Record, are employees Laura Gutierrez and Jessica Arreola. The lawsuit reportedly also asks the court to compel human resources vendor Automatic Data Processing to provide information that could identify other potential defendants in the case.
In addition to requesting class action status, the lawsuit asks for damages of as much as $1,000 per violation, plus the fees of the attorneys.
Article updated Aug. 24 to include comment from Senior Lifestyle.
