How AI Can Violate Employee Rights at Work - Barrett & Farahany

Helping employees find justice in eight states with offices in Illinois, Georgia, and Alabama.

How Can AI Violate Your Employee Rights?

How Can AI Violate Your Employee Rights?

AI and Employee Rights

How Can AI Violate Your Employee Rights?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a vital component of the modern workplace, transforming how organizations operate and make decisions. From hiring to performance evaluations, employers want AI to streamline workplace processes and improve efficiency. However, its growing presence raises critical concerns about how it can infringe on employee rights if not implemented responsibly.

Whether intentional or accidental, violations of employee rights through AI can occur in various ways. This can range from biased hiring decisions to breaches of privacy. The employment law attorneys at Barrett & Farahany can explain how AI may pose risks to employees. 

Barrett & Farahany’s Experience With AI

Barrett & Farahany has extensive experience with using AI, and how to use it in such a way that our employees and their rights are not infringed upon in any way.

We’ll view AI through the legal frameworks that protect employees, and break down how employees can spot illegal uses of AI to protect themselves in the workplace. 

What Is AI in the Workplace, and How Is It Used?

AI in the workplace refers to systems and technologies that use machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and predictive analytics to assist in decision-making or automate tasks. Employers increasingly rely on AI to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and provide insights. Here are some places where AI applications are popular in the employment process:

1. Hiring Processes

AI-powered tools screen resumes, assess candidates, and determine suitability during hiring, saving recruiters time. However, these systems might filter out qualified candidates due to biases in the algorithms.

2. Performance Evaluations

AI analyzes employee metrics, like productivity and attendance, to assess individual performance and growth potential.

3. Daily Operations

AI tools assist in managing schedules, monitoring employee activity, and automating repetitive tasks.

ADA and ADEA: Protecting Employee Rights in an AI Era

While AI is undeniably useful, it carries the risk of perpetuating biases, increasing surveillance, and making decisions that affect employees without proper human oversight.

Legal frameworks such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) are crucial in safeguarding employee rights as AI becomes more prevalent in the workplace.

What the ADA Says About AI

The ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in various areas, including employment practices. AI tools used in employment decisions must ensure accessibility and fairness for disabled individuals. 

If an AI tool does not, you may experience workplace discrimination in one of several ways:

  • Lack of Accommodations: AI tools that cannot accommodate a disability may rate an individual unfairly. For example, an algorithm may penalize you as a candidate for slower typing speeds when you have a reading disability.
  • Screening Out Qualified Individuals: If an AI system screens out a disabled candidate who could perform the job with reasonable accommodations, it violates the ADA.
  • Improper Disability-Related Questions: AI tools that ask questions or collect medical data unrelated to job performance can breach ADA rules.

Employers must take proactive steps to ensure compliance, such as auditing algorithms and providing accommodations needed for everyone to compete fairly.

The ADEA and AI Bias

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects employees over the age of 40 against age-related bias in employment. AI systems, however, trained on historical hiring data, may inadvertently favor younger candidates or screen out older workers entirely. This can take form in two common ways:

  • Recruitment Software: Some AI recruitment tools have been found to automatically reject older applicants, violating ADEA protections.
  • Unintentional Patterns: Algorithms trained on data where younger candidates were historically favored may reinforce these biases, perpetuating discrimination.

Employers must ensure that AI systems remain age-inclusive by conducting regular bias audits and adhering to ADEA and other local laws.

Ethical Risks of AI in the Workplace

AI, when improperly implemented, poses several risks to employee rights. These include:

1. Bias in Decision-Making

AI might replicate and even amplify existing workplace biases if trained on flawed datasets. Discrimination in hiring, promotions, or evaluations could occur against groups based on gender, race, ethnicity, disability, or age.

2. Excessive Surveillance

AI tools can excessively monitor employees, tracking keystrokes, internet activity, and productivity metrics. While these tools aim to improve efficiency, they can easily cross the line into breaching employees’ privacy rights and/or creating hostile workplaces.

3. Lack of Transparency

Decisions made by AI may not always be explainable. If an employee is passed over for a promotion due to AI-driven evaluation, the lack of clarity makes it impossible to appeal or address the issue.

4. Automated Termination

AI is capable of flagging employees for poor performance may lead to unfair terminations, especially if it relies solely on quantitative input and doesn’t account for the context that a human manager would consider.

5. Discrimination Based on Protected Characteristics

AI tools can unintentionally discriminate against certain groups due to biases ingrained in their algorithms. This violates federal laws such as the ADA and ADEA.

How Employees Can Protect Their Rights

If you believe that AI has been used unfairly in your workplace, you can:

  • Report the issue to HR or compliance teams.
  • Gather evidence of AI-driven decisions that seem unfair or biased.
  • Seek legal advice to explore your options under ADA, ADEA, or other laws.

The integration of AI into workplaces is reshaping traditional employment practices. While the efficiencies of AI are undeniable, its improper use poses significant risks to employee rights. From bias in hiring to excessive surveillance, these challenges need to be addressed proactively by employers.

By adhering to legal standards such as the ADA and ADEA, and by committing to ethical best practices, companies can leverage AI to its full potential—without compromising fairness or transparency. If your employer doesn’t do this, you may have to take legal action to defend yourself.

Contact the Employment Law Attorneys at Barrett & Farahany For Help

Employees must also remain informed about their rights and empowered to speak up when those rights are violated. Organizations willing to build a fair, transparent, and ethical AI-driven workplace will not only enjoy compliant operations but will also foster greater trust and inclusivity among their teams.

For further assistance or if you are unsure about your rights in an AI-implemented workplace, contact Barrett & Farahany today.

Talk To An
Attorney Today

By providing a telephone number, e-mail address, and submitting this form, you are consenting to be contacted by e-mail & SMS text message. Message & data rates may apply. You can reply STOP to opt-out of further messaging.

Chat with us!
Dismiss

Do you want to chat?