St. Louis-based Ascension is facing a lawsuit for allegedly taking employees' fingerprints without their consent, Law360 reported June 16.
According to the suit, filed in Illinois state court on June 15, employees of a Chicago-based hospital within Ascension's network allege that the health system unlawfully required them to scan their fingerprints to access a medicine dispensing system.
The suit also alleges that the health system did not obtain written consent from employees prior to making them scan fingerprints, thus violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, which was passed in the state in 2008. The law requires organizations that use and store biometric identifiers to comply with certain requirements.
The class still has to be certified.
Becker's reached out to Ascension for comment and will update the story if more information is learned.