[Athen] New CDT Report: Algorithm-driven Hiring Tools: Innovative Recruitment or Expedited Disability Discrimination?

Lydia X. Z. Brown lydia at autistichoya.com
Wed Dec 9 13:12:09 PST 2020


Hi friends - I wanted to share this exciting update from my team with you!


As employers strive to make their hiring processes faster and more
efficient, algorithm-driven hiring tools are growing increasingly popular.
Vendors market these tools as an efficient way to identify skills,
aptitudes, and “cultural fit” – in ways that humans cannot. While
algorithm-driven hiring tools may offer quick solutions, faster does not
always mean better
<https://cdt.org/insights/faster-is-not-always-better-disability-discrimination-in-algorithm-driven-hiring-tools/>.
This is especially true when these tools reinforce disability-based
discrimination in ways that may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA).

A new report from CDT
<https://cdt.org/insights/report-algorithm-driven-hiring-tools-innovative-recruitment-or-expedited-disability-discrimination/>
explores employers’ potential liability under the ADA when they use
algorithm-driven hiring tools. Employers must provide hiring tests in
formats that are accessible to people with disabilities, only use selection
criteria that are necessary to essential job functions, and provide
reasonable accommodations to bridge the gap between employers and qualified
disabled people. Our report explains how algorithm-driven hiring tools may
fail to meet these obligations, instead amplifying hiring disparities for
disabled people – many of whom face employment barriers at multiple levels
of marginalization.

Algorithmic discrimination based on disability is uniquely difficult to
quantify or mitigate, as people can have vastly different experiences of
each of the many kinds of disabilities. Regardless, algorithm-driven hiring
tools must be designed, examined, and regulated with this diversity of
disability experiences in mind. Our report
<https://cdt.org/insights/report-algorithm-driven-hiring-tools-innovative-recruitment-or-expedited-disability-discrimination/>
explains steps that employers, vendors, policymakers, and job-seekers can
take to make these tools more fair, improve their accuracy, and increase
accountability. We hope our report guides stakeholders to ensure that these
tools do not push people with disabilities further out of an already biased
and ever-evolving job market.

You can also find more from CDT’s Privacy & Data Project here
<https://cdt.org/area-of-focus/privacy-data/>.

Find the report [here].

Find the plain language version of the report [here].



________________
*Lydia X. Z. Brown *
Pronouns: they/them/theirs/themself or no pronouns
Phone: +1 (202) 618-0187
Homepage: www.lydiaxzbrown.com
Portfolio: www.autistichoya.net

Founder & Director, Fund for Community Reparations for Autistic People of
Color's Interdependence, Survival, & Empowerment

Adjunct Lecturer in Disability Studies, Georgetown University Department of
English

Member, American Bar Association, Commission on Disability Rights &
Disability Rights Committee Chair, American Bar Association, Section on
Civil Rights & Social Justice

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I
can hear her breathing.”
― Arundhati Roy

“Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.”
― Maggie Smith

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