Is your company or business using Software, Algorithms, or Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help you make employment decisions and save time in the areas of recruiting, hiring, retention, promotion, employee evaluation, etc.?
Be aware that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which enforces federal law regarding discrimination (based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information), is closely monitoring for possible discrimination violations when using Software, Algorithms, or Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The technologies may be helpful; however, as users, we must ensure the tool or software complies with federal law.
Recent EEOC guidance addresses this and several other related issues in this article:
Select Issues: Assessing Adverse Impact in Software, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence Used in Employment Selection Procedures Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Your Takeaway re: use of Software, Algorithms, or Artificial Intelligence (AI) in employment matters:
- Learn if the tools you are using may be putting your business at risk.
- If your tool(s) are managed by a third party, inquire about the validity of their tools relative to EEOC standards.
- If you are accessing tools directly, contact the Producer/vendor. Inquire about how the tools work behind the scenes.
- Finally, do your own parallel audit of work “assigned to AI”. For example, for AI-assisted recruitment, review the list of selected candidates AND the full list of non-selected candidates to spot potential “bias” in the tool, if any.
The bottom line is, we all love assistive tools. Let’s be sure we don’t forget to “check AI’s work” regularly.
