Truckers Keep Union Pacific Data Privacy Lawsuit on Track
A federal appeals court has cleared the way for a proposed class action brought by truck drivers who allege Union Pacific Railroad collected their fingerprints at Illinois intermodal facilities in violation of the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act.
Appeals court rejects contractor exemption argument
A Seventh Circuit panel ruled that Union Pacific could not rely on Illinois’ government-contractor exemption to avoid the lawsuit. The railroad argued that its government contracts shielded it from claims under the state privacy law while those contracts remained active.
The court rejected that interpretation, finding that the contracts cited by Union Pacific involved commuter rail and infrastructure work rather than the intermodal freight facilities where truck drivers’ fingerprints were allegedly collected.
Fingerprint scans used at intermodal facilities
The lawsuit, filed in 2024, alleges that Union Pacific required truck drivers to provide fingerprint scans when entering certain Illinois facilities. The biometric information was allegedly used to identify drivers and process or track freight loads.
The proposed class could include potentially thousands of drivers. The case concerns whether Union Pacific provided the disclosures and obtained the consent required under Illinois’ biometric privacy law before collecting, storing or using fingerprint data.
Potential implications under Illinois privacy law
Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, commonly known as BIPA, places requirements on companies that collect biometric identifiers such as fingerprints. The law has led to numerous lawsuits involving employers, technology companies, transportation firms and railroad operators.
The Seventh Circuit’s ruling allows the drivers’ claims against Union Pacific to continue. It does not resolve all remaining issues in the case or establish the final amount of any potential damages.
Union Pacific and other railroad companies have faced several BIPA lawsuits in Illinois, where statutory damages can create significant financial exposure when biometric information is collected from large groups of workers, contractors or customers.
