Pepperidge Farm Biometric Class Reversed for Conflict Review

A class of Pepperidge Farm workers was decertified in a case alleging the company violated their biometric privacy rights, as an Illinois appellate panel ordered a lower court to review whether the class attorneys might have a conflict of interest.

Plaintiff Tyrone Brewer said in a deposition he first learned that Pepperidge Farm’s hand scans might be illegal because his daughter, an attorney, told him, Appellate Court Justice Aurelia Pucinski wrote in Monday’s order.

From 2016 to 2020, the company’s bakery in Downers Grove, Ill., used a “HandKey” device to scan employees’ hands. It did not capture fingerprints ...