Congress introduces ‘No Robot Bosses Act’

On December 3, a bipartisan group of legislators lead by Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) introduced legislation that would prohibit employers from relying solely on automated decision-making systems to make employment-related decisions. HR 6371, known as the No Robot Bosses Act, would mandate that employers include human oversight when they use automated decision-making software, that they regularly test their tools, and that they disclose to workers when such tools are being used.

What would be covered

The bill defines an “automated decision system” as one that “uses computation” to “determine outcomes” and “make or aid decisions” and includes those “derived from machine learning, statistics, or other data processing or artificial intelligence techniques.”

Any employment-related decision by an automated decision system would have to be independently corroborated by “meaningful oversight by a human with appropriate and relevant experience.” Employment-related decisions include actions relating to recruiting, screening, interviewing, or selecting a candidate; firing, retaining, taking disciplinary action against, demoting, or reassigning an employee; and implementing other actions affecting terms and conditions of employment such as compensation, scheduling, insurance coverage, or benefits.

Employer verification and disclosures