California Senator Introduces Bill to Regulate AI in the Workplace

State Senator Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton announced the “No Robo Bosses Act” on Thursday, March 6, his office announced.

The first-of-its-kind bill aims to ensure human oversight of artificial intelligence in workplace decisions, a press release issued Thursday noted.

According to the Senator’s office, Senate Bill 7 would establish “necessary safeguards of AI in the workplace” by:

• Requiring human oversight and independent verification for promotion, demotion, firing, and disciplinary decisions.
• Barring ADS systems from obtaining or inferring a worker’s immigration status; veteran status; ancestral history; religious or political beliefs; health or reproductive status, history, or plan; emotional or psychological state; neural data; sexual or gender orientation; disability; criminal record; credit history or any other statuses protected state law.
• Prohibiting the use of ADS for predictive behavior analysis based on personal information collected on workers that results in adverse action against a worker for what the AI predicts the worker will do.
• Creating a process for workers to appeal decisions made by ADS.

“Businesses are increasingly using AI to boost efficiency and productivity in the workplace. But there are currently no safeguards to prevent machines from unjustly or illegally impacting workers’ livelihoods and working conditions,” Sen. McNerney said.

The bill is sponsored by the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO.

“No worker should have to answer to a robot boss when they are fearful of getting injured on the job, or when they have to go to the bathroom or leave work for an emergency,” said Lorena Gonzalez, President of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, representing over 1,300 unions with 2.3 million union members.

SB 7 is co-authored by Assemblymembers Sade Elhawary, D-South Los Angeles, and Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles.

Related Posts:
Work Daze: It’s Here: Tattletale AI
CalMatters: Five Things to Watch as California’s Legislature Returns to the Capitol in 2025
Sunnyvale Business Leverages AI to Deter Crime