The employer provided notice of the BIPA suit to its insurer under its businessowner’s policy, but the insurer denied coverage, asserting the policy's employment-related practices exclusion, among others, barred coverage. The insurer also asked the court to decree it had no duty to defend its insured in the BIPA action.
The employer argued the insurer interpreted the employment-related practices exclusion too broadly, asserting it was only intended to apply to “practices directed at individual employees.” Since all employees were required to scan their fingerprints, the employer contended the exclusion was inapplicable.
The court, however, disagreed with the employer and held that the fingerprint scanning requirement applied to employees individually. Furthermore, the judge found that all employees suffered risk of individual injuries as a result of their employer’s failure to adhere to the statutory procedures of BIPA. Accordingly, the court concluded that the alleged BIPA violations involved the type of employment practices that were intended to be barred by the exclusion.