Big data and data analytics provide employers with useful and apparently unbiased tools for a variety of uses –
finding the right person for a job, determining if
an employee is about to resign, or determining if
trade secrets are walking out the door. The algorithms used, however, learn from human behavior and reflect how people make decisions. With
unconscious bias at play, these decisions can be discriminatory. A discrimination law professor at the University of California, Berkeley described the issue this way: “Even if they are not designed with the intent of discriminating against those groups, if they reproduce social preferences even in a completely rational way, they also reproduce those forms of discrimination.” Employers using algorithms to make personnel decisions should be cautious and should note that
the EEOC is paying attention.
Discrimination
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Providing a reminder and lesson for all employers, the EEOC sued a janitorial and facilities management company for
failing to maintain recruitment records, including records of criminal background checks.
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Jon Hyman explained that even though there may be rigid laws and complex analysis required, courts often
consider the inequities in sex discrimination lawsuits.
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Technology
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The use of online dating technology has invaded recruiting through the app called
Jobsuitors. The app uses dating-like algorithms to match candidates to jobs.
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Mike VanDervort described how
one woman’s selfie changed the outcome of a National Labor Relations Act election.
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Wage and Hour