(WASHINGTON) — In partnership with leading civil rights organizations, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) today published new recommendations and guidance to ensure that tools used to make employment decisions are fair and equitable. The Civil Rights Standards for 21st Century Employment Selection Procedures is the result of a year-long collaboration between CDT, the Association for the Advancement of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), and Upturn. The Standards come at a time of increased scrutiny of the discriminatory effects of AI-driven technology by regulators in the U.S. and European Union.
CDT President and CEO Alexandra Reeve Givens says:
“There’s a new and dangerous form of discrimination in the workplace. Technologies that screen job candidates using AI can systematically exclude people of color, women, disabled people, older workers, and others who are underrepresented in the workforce.
Discrimination in hiring is an urgent civil rights issue, which is why CDT has spent the past year working with some of the most influential civil rights organizations in the U.S. to develop standards that show policymakers, industry groups, and employers how to effectively assess and oversee these tools.”
Matt Scherer, who leads CDT’s Project on Workers’ Rights and Technology and oversaw the development of the Standards, says:
“We hope these strong, civil-rights-focused guidelines will become the gold standard to address the challenges associated with employment decision-making tools. The Civil Rights Standards provide a concrete alternative to recent proposals, as well as legislation due to take effect in New York City, that would set very weak notice, audit, and fairness standards for automated tools.
The Standards call for an end to discriminatory selection tools. They also would require employers to tell job candidates how a tool will evaluate them, how they can access accommodations and alternatives, and how that tool may have contributed to an adverse decision.
Hiring tools must also operate more transparently and include safeguards against unfair outcomes, because workers and regulators often can’t detect the tools employers use — let alone how they can discriminate against workers.”
The Civil Rights Standards come at a time of growing scrutiny of the use of modern hiring tools, particularly those that utilize AI: The Biden administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights cited detailed examples of how hiring tools can discriminate, and in May 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidance warning that employers’ use of AI in hiring could violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. The EEOC has also announced a broader Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Fairness Initiative to address hiring and other employment decisions. California, the District of Columbia, and other states are considering proposals to regulate the use of algorithms to address discriminatory harms, and in Europe, regulators have also targeted AI-driven hiring as a priority in their AI Act.
The Civil Rights Standards build on the Civil Rights Principles for Hiring Assessment Technologies developed by a broad coalition of U.S.-based civil rights organizations in 2020. The new Standards provide specific, actionable language to implement the Principles — giving clear guidance for legislators, regulators, vendors, and employers on how to assess hiring technologies and support fair, effective, transparent, and modern hiring practices for all.
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Read: Civil Rights Standards for 21st Century Employment Selection Procedures
CDT is a 27-year-old 501(c)3 nonpartisan nonprofit organization that fights to put democracy and human rights at the center of the digital revolution. It works to promote democratic values by shaping technology policy and architecture, with a focus on equity and justice.
CDT’s Workers’ Rights Project examines the impact of technology in the workplace, both in terms of how technology can empower workers, and what policies, practices, and regulations prevent technology from harming workers and reinforcing existing societal inequalities.