Nathaniel M. Glasser, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Law360 Employment Authority, in “DOL's AI Guidance Puts Focus on Workers, Product Design,” by Daniela Porat. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
The U.S. Department of Labor's recently released guidance on artificial intelligence in the workplace shows how employers will have to ensure that any technology they incorporate is vetted to align with wage and hour compliance obligations, attorneys say.
Released on Oct. 16, the AI guidance sets out general best practices for employers in response to President Joe Biden's executive order directing the DOL to do so last October. The eight principles enumerated in the guidance include a call to focus on worker empowerment by seeking worker input, an emphasis on ensuring any tools are developed with workers' rights in mind and a recognition that such tools can make work processes better.
While the DOL's guidance is nonbinding, employers should heed the principles behind the department's recommendations for using artificial intelligence tools in the day-to-day operation of a business, such as in selecting job candidates or scheduling worker shifts. …
The emphasis on design, development and testing of artificial intelligence stood out to Nathaniel Glasser, a member of management-side firm Epstein Becker Green and co-leader of the firm's AI practice group, who compared the guidance to New York City's artificial intelligence law.
"As opposed to the way the New York City Local Law 144 has gone about regulating AI in terms of measuring outputs, there is an emphasis here on design, development, testing, training, everything that goes into the model," Glasser said. …
Glasser said these types of questions will, in large part, require employers to apply historic principles in this new context.
"Employers should follow their traditional class classification review and audit processes to determine what specific tasks the employee is asked to complete as part of that role, and then classify accordingly," he said.
The guidance said that artificial intelligence tools should be complementary and improve job quality "by reducing the time spent on certain tasks and providing opportunities to enhance skills."
