The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reached
a settlement agreement in a lawsuit that many are calling the
EEOC's “first ever” artificial intelligence (AI)
discrimination in hiring lawsuit.
The settlement serves as a strong reminder of the EEOC's
ongoing emphasis on AI and algorithmic bias, and a reminder to
employers that the results of any technology-assisted screening
process should comply with existing civil rights laws.
This article discusses key takeaways from this settlement for
all employers, regardless of whether their hiring technology might
be characterized as an “artificial intelligence”
tool.
The EEOC's Lawsuit
The EEOC's lawsuit, against iTutor Group and its related
companies (iTutor), involved an employer that hired thousands of
tutors in the United States each year to provide online tutoring
from their homes or other remote locations. Under the
parties' negotiated consent decree approved by the court on
September 8, 2023,