United States: Civil Action Under Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act Not Barred by Exclusivity

An employee's civil action against her employer for alleged violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), 740 ILCS 14/1, et seq., is not barred by the exclusive remedy provisions of the state's Workers' Compensation Act, held a federal district court. The employer utilized a fingerprint-based computer system that required the employee, as a condition of continued employment, to scan and register her fingerprint in order to access various software and computing systems, including her paystubs. The employer contended that any injuries allegedly sustained by the plaintiff had been suffered “in the line of duty” during “the course of employment” and that her exclusive remedy was under the Act. The district court disagreed, stressing that the kinds of injuries allegedly inflicted by an employer’s violation of BIPA were not the sorts generally within the purview of the Act.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Cothron v. White Castle Sys., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104795 (N.D., Ill. June 16, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 100.03.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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