Thomas v. Cornerstone Services, Inc.

The appellate court considered an interlocutory appeal clarifying the scope of the “government contractor exemption: within the Biometric Information Privacy Act. The circuit court certified two questions regarding the exemption whether it applied to exempt from BIPA only those contractors or subcontractors who work exclusively for state agencies or local units of government and if, not, to define the meaning of the phrase “when working for the State agency or local unit of government.” The appellate court answered the certified question in the negative, holding that a contractor need not have an exclusive contractual relationship with a state agency or local government for the Act’s government contract exemption to apply and that the phrase “when working for” exempts a government contractor from liability under the Act only if its violation occurred when acting within the scope of its governmental contractual relationship. (BRENNAN and DAVENPORT, concurring)