New York City Council proposes bill to regulate automated employment decision tools

Nineteen members of the New York City Council have proposed a bill that would regulate the use of automated employment decision tools – systems that use algorithmic methodologies to filter candidates for hire or to make decisions regarding any other term, condition, or privilege of employment. The bill would make it unlawful to sell or offer for sale any such tool unless: (a) the tool is subject of a bias audit conducted in the past year prior to selling, (b) the sale of such tool includes an annual bias audit service that provides the results of the audit to the purchaser. Entities using automated employment decision tools to screen candidates for employment decisions would be required to inform candidates about the use of such a tool, and about the job qualifications or characteristics that the tool was used to assess in the candidates.