In Crain’s Chicago Business, Nick Berg Comments on Biometric Information Privacy Act

In an interview for Crain’s Chicago Business, litigation & enforcement partner Nick Berg commented on the recent settlement of a class-action lawsuit against restaurant chain White Castle involving Illinois’ controversial biometric information law. White Castle was accused of violating the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). Legislators are considering a reform bill to change the law.

“The bill is a partial step forward. But it still doesn’t get us to a regime that’s reasonable under the circumstances,” said Nick. “For example, the bill still maintains a strict-liability regime for companies that are trying to comply with BIPA. That is, the statute doesn’t require you to have done anything improper with employees’ data for liability to attach. Instead, all that’s required for liability is that a company doesn’t have a policy in place or doesn’t obtain consent from their employees.”

Nick added, “the vast majority of companies aren’t trying to profit from the biometric information they collect from their employees in the normal course; they’re just trying to run their business.”