Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

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. 

Oregon’s Fair Work Week Act (also known as Oregon’s predictive scheduling law) (the “Act”) is proceeding full speed ahead and will add significant challenges and costs for retailers. The majority of the Act goes into effect on July 1, 2018. Following similar ordinances regulating employee hours passed at municipal levels in Emeryville, California; New York City; San Francisco; San Jose; Seattle; and Washington, D.C., Oregon becomes the latest jurisdiction and the first state to enact a predictive scheduling law.

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California is the land of employment legislation, and 2018 is shaping up to be another year of change. We are less than six months into the year, and already several bills that could significantly impact California businesses—for better or for worse—are pending in the California legislature.

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