Employers Beware: Sudden Spike in Class Actions Under the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act

Common to the class actions filed this year are allegations that employers requested or required candidates to disclose their family medical histories before receiving employment offers. The plaintiffs’ bar in Illinois may be looking to use the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) to challenge on a class-wide basis conduct that could only be challenged under the federal Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) on an individual basis.

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Illinois Supreme Court: BIPA Claims Not Barred By Workers’ Compensation Act

Companies with Illinois employees have been bombarded with class action lawsuits under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) over the last several years. These lawsuits generally allege that employers have not complied with BIPA’s notice and consent requirements before collecting or disclosing employees’ biometrics. One of the defenses has been that such claims are preempted under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act (IWCA) as workplace injuries, and thus cannot be brought in court. However, on February 3, 2022, in a long-awaited decision, the Illinois Supreme Court held in McDonald v. Symphony Bronzeville Park, LLC, 2022 IL 126511, that preemption does not apply to BIPA claims raised by employees for damages, thereby allowing such claims to proceed in court.

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Seventh Circuit: BIPA Claims Can Be Heard in Federal Court

Class action litigation under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has exploded over the last several years. An ongoing issue has been the proper forum for such cases, namely whether there is constitutional, Article III “standing” for BIPA claims to proceed in federal court. A May 5 ruling out of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals brought much-needed clarity to the issue by holding that a federal court could hear certain BIPA claims.

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Fair Pay Class Action Against Google Inc. Moves Ahead

Last week, a California state court in San Francisco ruled that a California Equal Pay Act class action against Google Inc. has survived the pleading stage. The California Equal Pay Act currently requires equal pay for employees who perform “substantially similar work” when viewed as a composite of skill, effort and responsibility. The 2016 amendment to the Equal Pay Act also prohibits employers from relying on the employee’s prior salary to justify a sex-based difference in salary. Plaintiffs allege in their amended complaint that Google relies on gender stereotypes and has a company-wide policy of relying on former salary history in setting pay and assigning jobs. These allegations were critical to the court’s decision to allow the case to proceed as a class action.

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Florida Federal Court Rules That Winn-Dixie’s Website Violated the ADA

Retailers throughout the country have been besieged by lawsuits and demand letters alleging that their websites are not accessible to the visually impaired and that this lack of accessibility violates Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The plaintiffs’ bar, without definitive guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the courts, has assumed that retail websites are “places of a public accommodation” under the ADA and that the appropriate compliance level should be the Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 A or AA.
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Suit Shopping: Deceptive Pricing Class Actions Persist

Kate Gold published an article, along with Kathryn Deal, Meredith Slawe, Kate Villanueva, Dan Brewer and Ashley Super titled, “Suit Shopping: Deceptive Pricing Class Actions Persist” for the California Retailers Association’s Golden State Report.

Recent years have seen a considerable increase in deceptive pricing litigation, with plaintiffs’ attorneys turning to untried theories to help advance their cases. As a result, retailers are facing more high-risk class action suits that could lead to significant exposure, reputational damage, and considerable litigation costs. The article details two potential sources of suits—compare-at pricing and shipping charges—and how courts and agencies have thus far responded to such matters.

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