Labor News & Commentary October 7, 2024 concerns about AI-based discrimination in hiring & more

https://onlabor.org/october-7-2024/

By Holden Hopkins

Holden Hopkins is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s News & Commentary, concerns about AI-based discrimination in hiring, Boston hotel workers on strike, and more women of color are obtaining leadership roles in their unions.

The EEOC has raised concerns to federal lawmakers about the potential for AI to be used to facilitate discrimination in hiring job candidates according to reporting by Bloomberg Law. The agency cited a number of cases as emblematic of the problem, including companies which had used AI-hiring software to systematically exclude certain candidates on the basis of age, gender, and nationality.

The report raised concerns over the growing dependence on “AI to manage the workplace has the potential to outpace our nation’s capacity to ensure that they are deployed in a manner that comports with federal anti-discrimination laws.” In order to combat this trend, an accompanying letter from the agency’s head of legislative affairs stressed the need for “resources to keep pace with the use of these increasingly sophisticated tools and their potential impact on equal employment opportunity.”

Amid the ongoing strikes against Hilton that Esther reported on, two Boston area Hilton hotels are now the subject of open-ended strikes. On Friday, workers walked off the job at the Hilton Boston Logan and Boston Park Plaza hotels after the company failed to meet the union’s demands. UNITE HERE Local 26 represents the workers, who say they will not return to work until Hilton agrees to a new contract that includes higher pay and better working conditions.

FULL story at link above.