On November 30, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) does not apply to health care workers whose fingerprints are collected, stored, and used to access medication and medical supplies.
The underlying case involved claims by a pair of nurses — representing an associated class — who sued their employer, the Ingalls Memorial Hospital (and other associated entities), based on its use of fingerprint-enabled medication storage. The claims alleged that the hospital’s use of fingerprint-enabled storage devices violated BIPA because the hospital failed to properly notify the nurses and their colleagues when their fingerprints were collected and stored[1].
