Skip to main content

One to Keep An Eye On: Gates v. Eagle Foods Group, LLC (Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division)

 

As with many labor & employment law related cases (and bills) being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out.  This is one to keep an eye on.


Gregory Gates (“Gates”) worked at Eagle Foods Group, LLC (“Eagle”) for a period of time as a sanitation and assembly line employee.  During his tenure with Eagle, he was required to scan his handprint each time he began and ended his workday as well as whenever he clocked in and out for breaks.  Gates filed a purported class action against Eagle on the grounds that the company violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) by failing to publish retention schedules for biometric data and failing to destroy the biometric data, by systematically and automatically collecting biometric data without written release, and by systematically and automatically disclosing biometric data without first obtaining consent.

Eagle responded to the suit and argued the BIPA does not apply to the claims asserted by Gates because he is a former employee and therefore not covered under the BIPA.  As well, Eagle argued it did not “actively collect” Gates’ fingerprints, which it asserted was a requirement to be found liable under the BIPA.

After the case was moved to the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division (at Eagle’s request), Gates moved to remand it back to the Circuit Court of Lake County.  The Northern District denied that request on the grounds that Eagle had properly notified Gates of the removal to the Northern District.  

At the present time, Eagle has moved to dismiss Gates’ case on the above referenced grounds.  At present, Eagle’s final reply is due on May 17th after which the Northern District is likely to make a ruling.  Biometric cases are sometimes few and far between (in regard to novel matters raised in the filings), but it will be interesting to see how the Northern District interprets the language of the BIPA...which will likely lead to Gates’ case surviving or getting tossed out.


For additional information:  https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/illinois/ilndce/1:2020cv06525/392878/30/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies i...
Post a Comment
Read more

What I've Been Reading This Week

Recently, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Commissioner, Chai Feldblum, had her re-nomination on the brink, after Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee took steps to block it .  Readers might have heard that late last week, Commissioner Feldblum's re-nomination quietly slipped away and she tweeted out a thank you to supporters and friends, acknowledging that her time at the EEOC was over.  While there has not been much in the way of a further update in regard to that ongoing saga, we wait to see how things will play out at the EEOC, now that it has lost a quorum until additional Commissioners are confirmed by the Senate. For the time being, there are other developments for readers to review this week.  In particular, I call attention to the article on managing a wage & hour audit by the Department of Labor as well as steps an employer can take to better ensure compliance with the ADA. As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week. ...
Post a Comment
Read more