- An African American plaintiff sued Workday over alleged racial biases in the artificial intelligence screening tool.
- The plaintiff claims that the algorithm discriminates against applicants who are African American, older than 40, and those with disabilities.
- The complaint alleges that the AI is developed by humans who already have biases, thus the tool is also biased.
Enterprise management cloud company, Workday is being sued by an African American plaintiff over alleged discrimination against certain individuals. The class action complaint claims that the algorithm behind the tool is discriminating against applicants who are African American, older than 40 years old, and applicants with disabilities. The complaint also claims that the AI is created by humans, who have biases of their own, conscious or unconscious, thus the tool is discriminatory.
Class action lawsuit
The plaintiff is Derek Mobley, an African American male over 40 years old, who suffers from depression and anxiety. Mobley filed the document in a California district court. He also claimed that he has been rejected around 100 applications, since 2018. The companies that rejected Mobley are using Workday’s screening tool. According to the document:
« Workday, Inc. unlawfully offers an algorithm-based applicant screening system that determines whether an employer should accept or reject an application for employment based on the individual’s race, age, and or disability. »
According to Mobley’s allegations, human resources teams are using Workday to pre-select applicants in discriminatory ways. Thus, he opposed the usage of the tool and it violates laws including the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008.
A spokesperson from Workday responded to the situation and stated that this lawsuit is without merit. The spokesperson stated that they are committed to AI and the company acts responsibly and transparently in the design and delivery of their AI-powered tools. Also, the company’s review process for the product lifecycle focuses on mitigating unintended consequences, along with legal reviews to ensure compliance with regulations.