Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960’s, the United States has been trying to eliminate discrimination in many areas of society, including in the workplace. Over the years, many pieces of legislation have been enacted at both the federal level and the state level with this goal in mind. While progress has been made, there remains a need for more.
People may experience discrimination as employees of a company, but it is also possible to experience discrimination before even getting a job. In fact, discriminatory practices and biases may actually prevent people from getting the jobs they deserve and need. Lawmakers in California will be reviewing a new bill put forth in February of 2020 aimed directly at discrimination in the recruiting process.
The Post News Group reports that the bill, titled the Talent Equity for Competitive Hiring Act, would require the use of special software programs to process online job applications. These programs would leverage artificial intelligence and a robust set of algorithms to evaluate each applicant based on their experience and qualifications only. This bill is a follow-on to the Fair Hiring Resolution that was previously passed, directing state lawmakers to pass legislation of this type. The use of technology may well avoid the introduction of personal bias early on in the recruiting process, opening the door to jobs for people with criminal histories as well as for people of all genders and races.
If you would like to learn more about how you may protect yourself against unfair and unlawful discrimination in the workplace, please feel free to visit the workers’ rights page of our California workplace discrimination website.