AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework

The US Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy announced the publication of the AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework. The framework, published by the Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT), is a tool intended to provide guidance for employers on how to avoid unintentional discrimination when using AI hiring technology.

PEAT’s framework is based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s AI Risk Management Framework and includes NIST’s best practices for inclusive hiring. The DOL's Office of Disability and Employment Policy and PEAT developed the framework with input from disability advocates, AI experts, government and industry leaders, and the public at large. The framework emphasizes ten (10) focus areas that provide step-by-step guidance for achieving the outcomes laid out in the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework. Those focus areas provide assistance for employers on the following topics:

1. Identifying the employment nondiscrimination, accessibility, and privacy laws and regulations that apply to employers’ use of AI hiring technology;
2. Establishing roles and responsibilities employers need to maximize the benefits and manage the risks of using AI hiring technology;
3. Inventorying and classifying AI hiring technology, along with details about the technology’s intended use, anticipated benefits, accessibility conformance status, usability reports, risk classification, deployment status, and scope;
4. Working with responsible AI vendors, including the identification of third-party risks and the development of third-party risk controls to provide a foundation for the responsible and inclusive deployment of AI hiring technology;
5. Assessing possible positive and negative impacts of AI hiring technology;
6. Creating adequate processes to allow job seekers to request accommodations;
7. Establishing policies and procedures to collect explainable AI statements and other supporting documentation from vendors to understand how the technology works;
8. Creating effective human oversight policies and procedures with clear roles and responsibilities;
9. Defining and implementing policies and procedures related to incidents and appeals relating to the use of AI hiring technology; and
10. Monitoring the performance of AI hiring technology to help assess its trustworthiness and evaluate risks related to compliance with nondiscrimination and accessibility legal requirements.

The framework represents one of the many steps the federal government has taken in to promulgate non-binding guidance relating to AI in the workplace. For employers, the framework provides crucial strategies for implementing AI hiring technology in a manner that does not violate federal anti-discrimination laws.

“The [DOL's] Office of Disability Employment Policy works with many employers eager to hire people with disabilities and benefit from their talents,” said Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy Taryn Williams. “These employers recognize that AI tools can improve recruitment and hiring but may also impact workplace culture and inclusion of disabled employees. The AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework published today charts a clear course for employers to navigate this transformation successfully.”