Last Monday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached a settlement in its first-ever case involving allegations of age discrimination in the use of AI tools during the employment process. According to Bloomberg Law, the outcome was a $365,000 settlement by the participating company.
The company in question was a tutoring service, but senior housing and care facilities that employ AI in the hiring process should pay attention. The iTutor Group had set up its application software to automatically reject female applicants over the age of 55 and male applicants over the age of 60, according to the consent order, which was filed on August 9.
The agency claimed that more than 200 older applicants had been automatically rejected when the EEOC filed in May 2022. A technical assistance document on disability discrimination when businesses use artificial intelligence and other software technologies to make employment choices was published by the EEOC and the Justice Department more than a year ago. According to a prior interview with McKnight’s Senior Living by Arena Analytics President and CEO Myra Norton, the company supports the federal government’s initiatives to address potential handicap discrimination in AI.
Many elder living facilities have employed the company’s artificial intelligence and predictive analytics technology. Sunrise Senior Living, a company in McLean, Virginia, has utilized the platform, for instance, to increase staff retention. Additionally, Waltham, Massachusetts’ Benchmark Senior Living declared in 2018 that it would use AI to attract and keep employees. United Church Homes of Marion, Ohio partnered with the Baltimore-based company last year to help find employees for several job categories.
“The United Church Homis is expanding significantly, and service demand is rising. Scott Slutz, vice president of human resources at United Church Homes, said at the time, “We’re committed to embracing modern technology to increase our capacity to attract, select, and retain competent workers in this competitive workforce environment.
The Arbor Company, The Asbury Communities, HCF Management, Heritage Senior Living, and Senior Living Communities are just a few of Arena’s prior clientele.
Due to the rising popularity of AI-powered technologies in the employment process, attorneys at Fisher Phillips predicted that there would be an increase in discrimination claims. According to the law firm, between 79% and 85% of companies currently use AI in some capacity during the employment and recruitment process.
Raeann Burgo and Wendy Hughes, attorneys of Fisher Phillips, recommended the following measures to guarantee ethical usage of AI-powered technologies and prevent discrimination lawsuits:
- Before using AI technologies, test them out using a variety of data sets.
- To make sure your tools are still legal, periodically evaluate them.
- Conduct bias audits, which some countries mandate.
- Update the human resources personnel on the use and interpretation of AI protocols.
- Clearly define your policies for using AI tools.
Burgo and Hughes emphasize the significance of continuing to involve people in the employment process.
