United States of America: Workplace Technology Accountability Act introduced

On 13 January 2022, the Workplace Technology Accountability Act (AB-1651), has been introduced in the California Assembly. The Bill would regulate data collection, monitoring, and algorithmic management in the workplace. It would require employers who collect and process worker data to inform workers of the collection and, upon request, to provide additional information about the data it stores. It would also require collected data to be accurate, and would restrict the collection and processing of worker data to a set of specified purposes. Employers who employ electronic monitoring would be required to inform workers of this fact, and electronic monitoring would only be allowed if several conditions, such as proper purpose and necessity. Furthermore, the Bill would restrict the use by employers of Automated Decision Systems (ADS) to make employment-related decisions, for example by requiring additional human involvement in decisions involving hiring, promotion, termination, or disciplinary decisions. Finally, employers using ADS for employment-related decisions would be required to complete an impact assessment.