Caffarelli & Martin, Ltd. (p/k/a Caffarelli & Associates) is pleased to announce a significant victory for Illinois workers in Gutierrez v. Aimbridge Employee Service Corp. and Aimbridge Hospitality, LLC. On June 2, 2026, Judge Caroline Kate Moreland of the Circuit Court of Cook County granted Plaintiffs’ renewed motion for class certification in a lawsuit brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, commonly known as BIPA.
The case concerns Aimbridge-managed hotels in Illinois that allegedly required employees to use UltiPro TouchBase timeclock devices to clock in and out. According to the Court’s order, the devices used a camera-based system that could capture employee facial images and perform facial recognition analysis. Plaintiffs allege that Aimbridge collected, stored, possessed, or used employees’ facial biometric data without first providing the disclosures, written consent, or publicly available retention and destruction policy required by BIPA.
The certified class includes individuals whose facial biometric data was allegedly collected, scanned, captured, obtained, received, stored, controlled, used, or possessed by Defendants in Illinois without valid written consent from October 6, 2017 through October 11, 2017.
In granting certification, the Court found that the case satisfies Illinois’ class action requirements. The Court noted that Aimbridge’s records reflected 485 employees used the TouchBase devices during the class period, satisfying numerosity. It also held that common issues predominate because the central question—whether Defendants collected or used biometric data without compliant notice, consent, or a retention policy—can be resolved through common proof. The Court further found that the named Plaintiffs are adequate class representatives and that Caffarelli & Martin is qualified to serve as class counsel.
This ruling is important because it emphasized that non-English speaking plaintiffs are adequate class reps, stating that “[t]he Named Plaintiffs testified that they have limited English proficiency. The Named Plaintiffs here are precisely the individuals for whom the class action mechanism exists. Requiring them to possess an independent understanding of legal procedures or the intricacies of their case would be contrary to the purposes of section 2-801.” (citations omitted). It also reinforces BIPA’s role as a powerful and necessary tool for protecting employees from the unauthorized generation and use of sensitive biometric information in the workplace.
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