Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

On April 29, 2024, in compliance with President Biden’s October 2023 Executive Order addressing artificial intelligence, the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division (WHD) issued guidance regarding the potential risks posed by employers using AI tools to monitor or augment worker productivity to violate the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Please join Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP for a complimentary webinar:

An (Un)Predictable Future – 2024 Employment Issues to Watch

Wednesday, March 13, 2024
12:00–1:00 pm ET
11:00 am–12:00 pm CT
9:00–10:00 am PT

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Please join Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP for a complimentary webinar:

Understanding AI and Addressing Potential Bias in AI-Driven Employment Decisions

Thursday, December 7, 2023
1:00–2:00 pm ET
12:00–1:00 pm CT
10:00–11:00 am PT

On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued a wide-ranging Executive Order to address the development of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in the U.S.  Entitled the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, the Order seeks to address both the “myriad benefits” as well as what it calls the “substantial risks” that AI poses to the country. It caps off a busy year for the Executive Branch in the AI space. In February the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published its Strategic Enforcement Plan highlighting AI ...

As of late, it seems we can hardly go a day without hearing about the rise of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and its potential to disrupt all manner of industries.  But awareness of AI’s potential implications to our careers has only recently hit the mainstream.  Many employees may be surprised to learn that a number of employers have already been using AI to make employment decisions for some time, especially in the hiring process.  And the number of employers using AI in the workplace has been growing rapidly.  Some employers are even using AI to make promotion decisions.

Background

On January 10, 2023, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) published a draft of its Strategic Enforcement Plan (“SEP”) in the Federal Register, which outlines the enforcement goals for the Commission for the next four years. While the Agency aims to target a number of new areas – such as underserved workers and pregnancy fairness in the workplace – it is notable that it listed as priority number one the elimination of barriers in recruitment and hiring caused or exacerbated by employers’ use of artificial intelligence. 

The EEOC recently issued long awaited guidance on how an employer’s use of software, algorithms, and artificial intelligence will be treated by the Commission under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In issuing this guidance, the Commission focused on employers administering software that uses algorithmic decision-making or artificial intelligence in making employment decisions before and during employment. The Commission outlined three general areas in which the use of such technology may violate the ADA: (1) an employer not providing a reasonable ...