California is one step closer to becoming one of the first states to adopt anti-discrimination regulations regarding employer use of automated-decision technology to make employment-related decisions.

Since May 2024 the California Civil Rights Council (CRC), a branch of the Civil Rights Department, has made multiple revisions to California’s employment discrimination regulations to address employers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) automated-decision systems to make employment-related decisions such as hiring, promotion, pay and benefits. The purpose of the proposed regulations is to affirm that California’s anti-discrimination laws protect employees and candidates from discrimination caused by the use of automated systems, and to define circumstances in which the use of automated systems can result in unlawful discrimination. The proposed regulations also address the use of automated systems for background checks and medical or psychological inquiries, and how that use can violate anti-discrimination laws. Additionally, the proposed regulations impose recordkeeping requirements that obligate employers to retain records that may relate to or disclose the employer’s use of automated systems to make employment decisions, including applications, personnel records, membership records, employment referral records, selection criteria, and automated-decision system data.Continue Reading California Civil Rights Council makes final revisions to regulations that address use of AI systems in employment-related decision-making

On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, No. 17-1618 (U.S. Jun. 15, 2020), which held that an employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a 6-3 opinion authored by

Today is the fourth in a five-part blog series on New York’s sweeping changes to the legal landscape for Empire State employers. In prior posts, we covered limitations on the use of nondisclosure provisions in settlement and separation agreements, the new standards for litigating and defending harassment claims, and expanded equal pay protections. Today, we will discuss important changes that will affect hiring practices – most notably, a statewide ban on salary history inquiries.

In another legislative move to broaden the state’s anti-discrimination laws, New York state will now prohibit employers from asking applicants or current employees about their wage or salary history. This new law will go into effect 180 days after Governor Cuomo signs the legislation, which he is expected to do. While New York City, as well as Albany, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, have enacted salary inquiry bans over the past few years, Empire State employers outside those jurisdictions have been free to ask applicants and current employees about their wage or salary history – until now.Continue Reading New York Lawmakers Upend the Employment Law Landscape…Again (Part 4)