To the California Civil Rights Council: Update Worker Protections for the Age of AI

The Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prevents discrimination and harassment in employment and housing based on protected characteristics like race, sex, and disability. But how do you know that you’re being discriminated against when a black-box algorithm is making the decisions in your workplace? 

This is an increasingly large issue in the modern workplace as companies leverage Automated Decision Systems (also known as Automated Decision-Making Tools) to manage workers. These systems are used throughout the workplace “lifespan”—from sorting through resumes to selecting who will get laid off—and sometimes use singular or multiple data point(s) as proxies for characteristics protected under FEHA.

Existing law needs to catch up with these new workplace technologies. We’re encouraged to see that the California Civil Rights Council is taking steps to make this happen. Simultaneously, we—along with other civil rights organizations—think that the Proposed Modifications Employment Regulations Regarding Algorithmic Decisionmaking Tools could be improved to strengthen worker protections.

These are the comments we submitted to the Council alongside other organizations: