Earlier this year, a bill was introduced into the New Jersey Legislature, in the Senate, NJ S-4075, and its companion partisan bill, A-4981, in the State Assembly, whose goals are to ensure that there are reasonable safeguards on the use of systems using artificial intelligence and related technologies in places of employment and for public services. This bill affects all level employees including managers and those in executive positions. See NJ Employment Discrimination Attorney, Artificial Intelligence and Discrimination Against High-Earner Employees with the Most Exposure.
Automated Employment Decision-making Systems Should Be Regulated: Unregulated, AI Generated, Decision-making Systems in Places of Employment Are Held Not Accountable to be in Compliance with Discrimination Laws and Other Laws.
Don’t Sit on Your Rights
If you are an employee who is experiencing discrimination, don’t sit on your rights. Contact us today for a free consultation. If you think you are being discriminated against because of your age, New Jersey Age Discrimination Lawyer, race, disability, sex, color, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation or other protected characteristic, you should contact this office today for a free consultation.
CONCERNS ABOUT AUTOMATED EMPLOYMENT DECISION-MAKING SYSTEMS
One of the areas of concern for civil rights and employee rights advocates that this bill addresses is when an employer uses artificial intelligence in one of their Automated Employment Decision-making Systems (AEDS). The AI-generated, automated employment decision-making systems, reach statistical conclusions that employers rely upon, regarding management decisions, including which applicants are best hired, and which employees it should terminate or lay-off. New Jersey Disability Discrimination Lawyer. The bill regulates AI usage in electronic monitoring tools (EMT) to collect and process a wide range of data and information about workers and job applicants. The AI processing of many thousands and thousands of data and information on employees that AI had collected, could contain its own partiality and built-in biases. New Jersey Race Discrimination Lawyer.
AI-collected information from thousands of sources, may be inaccurate or incorporate longstanding biases and prejudices, which can have long-term adverse economic impacts on employees and other workers, particularly persons in protected classes, such as older workers, the disabled, and racial minorities. The persons who are negatively affected rarely have access to the data used or any explanation of the management’s decision-making processes based on AI usage in electronic monitoring tools that collected and processed a wide range of data and information, which can have major life-altering effects on these groups or individuals. See NJ Employment Attorney, Older Employees Denied Promotions.
WHAT ARE THE SPECIFICS OF AN “AUTOMATED EMPLOYMENT DECISION SYSTEM” AS DEFINED IN THIS BILL?
This bill defines AEDS, an automated employment decision system, specifically to include as follows:
A) Any computational process, or algorithm, or automated system, which
1) utilizes information about an employee or applicant, together with:
2) machine learning, or statistical modeling, or data analytics, or artificial
intelligence, or similar methods to:
3) produce outputs, including data, assumptions, predictions, scores, classifications, metrics, rankings, or
4) profiles, recommendations, inferences, conclusions, or other information,
5) which are used by an employer to make employment- related decisions about an employee or applicant for employment.
However, the bill states that an “automated employment decision system” does not include a
spam filter, firewall, antivirus, or other software not used to produce those outputs.
How is “employment-related decision” defined in this bill?
“Employment-related decision” means a decision made, or action taken, by an employer or public employer that affects an employee’s terms or conditions of employment, including whether an applicant is hired.
The bill further states: For independent contractors or job applicants, this means the equivalent of these decisions based on an individual’s contract with or relationship to the employer or public employer.
How does this bill define “Essential work functions"?
In this bill, “Essential work functions" is defined as:
A) the fundamental duties of a position based upon work duties actually performed over the duration of employment, as revealed by objective evidence, including
B) the amount of time workers spend performing each function,
C) the terms of any applicable collective bargaining agreement, workers’ past and present work experiences and performance in the position in question, and
D)the employer’s or public employer’s reasonable, nondiscriminatory judgment as to which functions are essential.
The bill further states that past and current written job descriptions may be evidence as to which functions are essential, but shall not be the sole basis for this determination.
If this bill becomes law, an employer’s AI-generated, automated employment decision-making systems (AEDS) in making employment-related decisions, including the ultimate decision of worker termination, will become regulated and held accountable for violating laws. Employment/Civil Rights Law.
If you resign, you may lose right to prevail in a lawsuit.
In many instances of discrimination and retaliation, if you resign, you may lose right to prevail in a lawsuit unless you first take certain legally required measures to preserve your job while you are still employed. If you are thinking of resigning, or think you will be fired, or have been fired, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation to discuss your options in the safest way for you.
What You Can Do
I have represented employees who were illegally discriminated against by their employers, and was successful in recovering financial compensation for their emotional pain and suffering and moneys for lost wages, both for past lost wages and projected future lost wages. If you think you are being discriminated against, you should contact this office immediately for a free consultation. I accept discrimination and whistleblower cases from all over New Jersey and have locations in Southern, Central and Northern NJ to meet with clients.
Contact Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law today for a free consultation.
Hope A. Lang, Attorney at Law represents workers throughout the entire state, including Hackensack, Jersey City, Newark, Irvington, Orange, East Orange, Trenton, Paterson, Montclair, Elizabeth, North Brunswick, Cherry Hill, Vineland, Union, Plainfield, Hamilton Township, Lakewood, Edison, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Franklin, Lakewood, and every NJ County, including Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex, Essex, Monmouth, Somerset, Ocean, Union, Camden, Passaic, Morris, Gloucester, Atlantic, Burlington, Camden Counties.