Company to pay truckers $ 288 million for privacy violation

An Illinois jury ruled that BNSF Railway Co illegally obtained truck drivers’ fingerprints when picking up and dropping off cargo.

The verdict, which was handed down on Wednesday, October 12, in federal court in Chicago, will allow each of the 45,600 people to receive $5,000, the maximum amount allowed by Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

“We’re very pleased with the verdict and it shows that privacy is important and that companies must comply with the law, and will be held accountable if they don’t,” said David Gerbie of McGuire Law, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Three years earlier, drivers filed a class action lawsuit alleging that BNSF was scanning their fingerprints at the company’s facilities in Illinois.

The Illinois Privacy Act was passed in 2008. It restricts the collection of biometric data, such as fingerprints or retinal scans, and requires companies to obtain written consent for these actions.