BILL NUMBER: S4394
SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to establishing criteria for
the use of automated employment decision tools
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To limit bias and discrimination against any group on the basis of sex,
race, ethnicity, or other protected class that occurs when automated
employment decision tools are used to screen candidates for hire, and
creating a more specific definition for artificial intelligence auto-
mated employment decision tools in law.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the labor law by adding a new article 20D to section
750 of the labor law to modernize anti-discrimination in employment
decision tools. It defines "automated employment decision tool" to mean
a system or service that uses artificial intelligence and has been
specifically developed and marketed to be the controlling factor in
making a consequential employment decision in addition to other defi-
nitions.
On governance, the bill requires deployers or developers to establish,
document, implement and maintain a governance program that contains
reasonable safeguards to map, measure, manage, and govern the foreseea-
ble risk of unlawful discrimination associated with the use of an auto-
mated employment decision tool in addition to staffing requirements.
On transparency, a deployer shall, at all or before the time of a conse-
quential employment decision, notify the individual that is subject to
an employment decision of the tool's use.
On enforcement, the Attorney General may initiate an investigation of a
deployer or developer if a preponderance of the evidence establishes a
suspicion of a violation of these articles.
On compliance, a deployer or developer that complies with these articles
shall be deemed compliant with any law, regulation, rule, requirement,
or standard related to the performance of any impact assessments,
audits, or governance program(s) that are adopted maintained, or
enforced by any political subdivision of New York State.
Section 2 is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In today's job market, employers may receive hundreds of job applica-
tions for a single role. To efficiently evaluate candidates, employers
rely on employment decision tools, like skills tests, resume reading
systems, and automated screening platforms. Many employment decision
tools are developed by third-party vendors, but this industry of HR tech
providers is largely unregulated.
Importantly, employers are not held to any meaningful standards when it
comes to disclosing the bias (legally defined as "disparate impact" or
"adverse impact") yielded by these products. As a result, many employers
continue to use hiring tools that disproportionately screen out racial
minorities. Additionally, candidates engaging with these assessments
often are not informed about their purpose or what they are designed to
measure.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: S5641A Comrie, no same as- amended to include updated report-
ing tools and standardize definitions
03/10/22 IN assembly, advanced to third reading cal.474. In the Senate,
Introduced in 2022, amended to an A print in January 2024.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.