Judge Allows AI-Bias Lawsuit Against Workday To Proceed
Workday will face a collective-action lawsuit alleging that its AI-powered hiring tools discriminate against workers age 40 and older. The lawsuit was filed in February 2023 by Derek Mobley, a Black, disabled man in his 40s, who claims that he applied for over 100 jobs without securing a role, as stated by ITPro.
The Independent reported that another plaintiff, Jill Hughes, said that she received automated rejections for hundreds of job applications “often received within a few hours of applying or at odd times outside of business hours,” as stated by court documents.
Hughes claimed that this meant “a human did not review the applications.”
Workday allegedly discriminates against older applicants
Judge Rita Lin allowed Mobley’s request for preliminary certification of collective action on the age discrimination claim, stating that applicants “are alike in the central way that matters: they were allegedly required to compete on unequal footing due to Workday’s discriminatory AI recommendations,” according to the order.
“If the collective is in the ‘hundreds of millions’ of people, as Workday speculates, that is because Workday has been plausibly accused of discriminating against a broad swath of applicants. Allegedly widespread discrimination is not a basis for denying notice,” Lin said.
The class will include applicants over the age of 40 who were rejected for employment recommendations for job opportunities through Workday’s job application platform from Sept. 24, 2020, through the present, the court said.
What has Workday said?
Workday continues to believe that this case is without merit. “This is a preliminary, procedural ruling at an early stage of this case that relies on allegations, not evidence,” it said in a statement to The Independent.
“The Court has not made any substantive findings against Workday, and has not ruled this case can go forward as a class action. We’re confident that once Workday is permitted to defend itself with the facts, the plaintiff’s claims will be dismissed.”
In a collective action lawsuit, plaintiffs must opt into it, whereas in a class action lawsuit, a large group of people is included in the case unless they opt out. Workday will have to alter its practices if Mobley and the other plaintiffs are successful in their collective action suit.
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