The  Bossware and Oppressive Technology (BOT) Act

Worker surveillance and the use of artificial intelligence in hiring have been allowed to run rampant for far too long. Biased, ineffective, or unfair hiring tools are deciding who gets employed, and invasive electronic monitoring systems are used to track workers’ every move and interaction, enforce unrealistic and inhumane quotas, or penalize workers for taking breaks.

These surveillance technologies are deployed in areas of acute power imbalance, and almost universally, they operate without transparency or even the most basic legal protections. Job candidates and workers affected by these systems have little to no power to get the information they deserve, learn how these systems impact them, or challenge their use. They often replicate and amplify bias, discrimination, and harm towards populations who have been and continue to be disproportionately impacted by bias and discrimination: women, Black, Indigenous, and all people of color, religious and ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA people, people living in poverty, people with disabilities, formerly incarcerated people, and other marginalized communities.