Ralph Lauren Improperly Collected Factory Store Employees’ Fingerprints, Class Action Claims

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Ralph Lauren Corporation has actively collected, stored and used Illinois factory store employees’ fingerprints without first providing notice of the practice, obtaining written consent to do so and publishing data retention policies as required by law, a proposed class action claims. 

The plaintiff alleges in the 12-page lawsuit that the company behind the iconic Polo Ralph Lauren brand has collected for timekeeping purposes the fingerprints of employees working at its Aurora, Illinois factory store in violation of the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). 

According to the lawsuit, fingerprints in Ralph Lauren’s possession are used to allow employees to clock in and out of work and stored in the company’s database along with credentials for each corresponding worker. A major concern, the case relays, is that those to whom the fingerprints belong run the risk of having their identities, financial details or other highly personal information stolen should their unchangeable fingerprints fall into the wrong hands. With this in mind, the BIPA, passed by the Illinois legislature in 2008, is a law meant to reign in companies such as Ralph Lauren who deal in residents’ biometric information by setting strict disclosure requirements, the lawsuit stresses. 

“BIPA confers on Plaintiff and all other similarly situated Illinois residents a right to know of such risks, which are inherently presented by the collection and storage of biometrics, and a right to know how long such risks will persist after their employment with the company ends,” the complaint reads. “Yet Defendant never adequately informed any of its employees of its biometrics collection practices, never obtained written consent from any of its employees regarding its biometric practices, and never provided any data retention or destruction policies to any of its employees.” 

The plaintiff, who worked for Ralph Lauren from roughly May 2018 through August 2019, claims she never “consented, agreed or gave permission—written or otherwise—” for the defendant to collect or store her fingerprints.

Specifically, it is unlawful for a company to “collect, capture, purchase, receive through trade, or otherwise obtain” someone’s biometric identifiers, including fingerprints, without first informing the subject in writing that a biometric identifier or biometric information is being collected or stored; informing the subject in writing of the “specific purpose and length of term” for which a biometric identifier or biometric information is being collected, stored, and used; and receiving a written release from the subject of the biometric identifier or biometric information or the individual’s legally authorized representative. 

The lawsuit on March 2 was removed to Illinois federal court. The case was initially filed on January 5, 2021 in Kane County Circuit Court. Last month, Ralph Lauren Corporation was hit with a separate proposed class action that alleged the company’s Polo V-neck pullover was made with far less genuine pima cotton than advertised. 

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