McDonald’s Franchisee Not Covered for Biometric Privacy Act Claims, Ill. Federal Judge Rules

CHICAGO — An “ERP Exclusion” relieves an insurer from having to defend the owner of an Illinois McDonald’s restaurant against claims that it violated the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by failing to obtain employees’ consent before disclosing their fingerprints to a vendor, a federal judge has ruled.

In a Jan. 7 order, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois found the employees “suffer risk of individual injuries as a result of Caremel’s failure to adhere to the statutory procedures of the BIPA,” triggering the exclusion.

Caremel Inc. operates a McDonald’s restaurant …