EDWARDSVILLE - A healthcare and rehabilitation center is facing a potential class-action lawsuit over claims it scanned and retained biometric information unlawfully.
Two former employees brought the suit against Wood River Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, doing business as Integrity Healthcare.
The suit, filed March 26 in Madison County Circuit Court, accuses the care home of violating provisions of the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
It is one of a series of similar lawsuits filed in the county against companies. Each is seeking class action certification over claims biometric information was used by defendants for employees to clock in and out of work.
Many of them were filed after the Illinois Supreme Court ruled more than a year ago that actual damage does not have to be alleged when filing suit.
Crystal Moss, a nurse practitioner who worked for the company from late 2016 to December 2018, and Ronnisha Benson, nursing assistant employed from March 2018 to December 2019, are the lead plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs claim they had their hands scanned each time they began and ended their shifts.
The defendant is accused of compromising the privacy and security of the biometric identifiers.
The plaintiffs claim the defendant did not provide any written materials detailing how it was collecting, retaining, or disclosing the biometric information.
Further, the plaintiffs did not provide written consent, while information was shared with the third-party vendor of the system, the suit states.
The plantiffs are seeking class-action certification on behalf of all employees of the company from March 26, 2015 to the present. They estimate this will involve approximately 75 people.
The plaintiffs seek monetary damages and an order barring the defendants from violating the provisions of the act. Plaintiffs are represented by Douglas W. Werman of Werman Salas of Chicago and Paul Lesko of Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane of St. Louis.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 2020-L-0434