St. Louis-based Ascension has agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by former employees who alleged that scanning their fingerprints violated their privacy.
The staffers had originally sued Chicago-based Presence Health in 2018 before that 12-hospital system merged with Ascension, court records show. A judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County (Ill.) approved the settlement Feb. 27.
The complaint alleged Presence Health didn't obtain consent from the employees before it asked them to clock in for work using their fingerprints, violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
"We seek to ensure compliance with applicable privacy laws, and we also are respectful of the privacy of our associates," an Ascension spokesperson emailed Becker's. "Our agreement to settle this matter is not an admission of any sort of wrongdoing but gives both sides the opportunity to move forward with the important business of providing care to the patients we serve."