AI Lie Detectors in Hiring Process may leave Employers Liable
Artificial Intelligence uses have grown exponentially in recent years, and the technology tool has been utilized both in personal and professional settings. AI, with the capability to learn and adapt from human characteristics, has been used to simplify tasks and even streamline business processes. But some employers may be discovering that relying on artificial intelligence during the hiring process may leave them liable to employment discrimination.
Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) scrutinized businesses for their use of AI during the hiring process, treating the tool as a lie detector that can screen prospective employees for integrity and honor while weeding out potential liars and perceived embellishers. Though the tool was could make the hiring process more efficient, it seemingly opened up employers to liability in the process.
AI Use when Hiring
Recent lawsuits against companies utilizing AI during the hiring process, such that against CVS Pharmacy, Inc., allege that prospective employess were subjected to an AI monitored video interview without a disclaimer that an artificial intelligence tool would be used to calculate how trustworthy that candidate could was during their interview.
Although the use of AI could be well intentioned, it also may bare biases against some candidates. Prospective employees may now be open to employment discrimination by artificial intelligence by simply reading the candidate’s mannerisms and determining whether they are truthful or not.
Requiring candidates to participate in a video-interview judged by potentially biased AI technology without their consent and without the opportunity to opt out can lead to companies being held liable for their discriminatory hiring processes. And while this threat of employment discrimination is of concerns to many prospective employees, the use of AI as a lie detector is opening up potential litigation paths for plaintiffs’ attorneys.
Restrictions against Lie Detectors when Hiring
Some state and federal laws prohibit the use of lie detectors during the hiring process with many of these laws banning the use of polygraph tests or similar methods of lie detection. While many of these laws were written well before the advancement of artificial intelligence, the definitions it uses for “lie detector” tests is very broad, with many laws describing lie detectors as a “device” or “test” that can determine and verify truth or falsity. Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York have laws explicitly prohibiting the use of lie detectors during the hiring process.
Even where states do not have explicit laws against lie detectors when hiring, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, a federal law preventing employers from testing candidates with lie detectors for pre-employment screenings or even throughout employment, defines “lie detectors” very broadly, meaning that the use of artificial intelligence to calculate or determine one’s honesty or dishonesty is also likely prohibited.
Have you been wrongfully discriminated against during the hiring process as a result of an nonconsensual lie detection test using AI? Let us know! Fill out the attached form and join the Shub & Johns investigation today!
