On January 9, 2024, Senate Bill 1588 for an Act concerning the use of automated tool to assist with hiring decisions was introduced to the New Jersey State Senate.

Definitions

The bill defines an 'automated employment decision tool' as 'any system the function of which is governed by statistical theory, or systems the parameters of which are defined by systems, including inferential methodologies, linear regression, neural networks, decision trees, random forests, and other learning algorithms, which automatically filters candidates or prospective candidates for hire or for any term, condition, or privilege of employment in a way that establishes a preferred candidate or candidates.'

An 'employment decision' means to screen candidates for employment or otherwise to help to decide compensation or any other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment in New Jersey.

Obligations and bias audits

The bill outlines that any person who uses an automated employment decision tool (AEDT) to screen a candidate for an employment decision must notify each candidate within 30 days of the use of the tool that an AEDT was used in connection with the job application and the tool assessed the qualifications or characteristics of the candidate.

In addition, the bill prohibits the use of an AEDT unless:

• the tool is subject to a bias audit conducted in the past year to selling the tool or offering the tool for sale;
• the sale of the tool includes, at no additional cost, an annual bias audit service, providing results to the audit purchaser; and
• the tool is sold or offered for sale with a notice stating it is subject to the provisions of the bill.

Any person who uses an AEDT to screen a candidate for an employment decision tool is required to notify each candidate, within 30 days of the use of the AEDT:

• that an AEDT, subject to a bias audit, was used; and
• the AEDT assessed the job applicant's qualifications or characteristics.

A 'bias audit' is defined as an impartial evaluation, including but not limited to testing, of an automated employment decision tool to assess its predicted compliance with the provisions of the Law Against Discrimination.

You can read the bill here and track its progress here.