This guidance explains how algorithms and artificial intelligence can lead to disability discrimination in hiring. The Department of Justice enforces disability discrimination laws with respect to state and local government employers. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces disability discrimination laws with respect to employers in the private sector and the federal government. The obligation to avoid disability discrimination in employment applies to both public and private employers.
...
The ADA bars discrimination against people with many different types of disabilities.
Some examples of conditions that may be disabilities include: diabetes, cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness, epilepsy, mobility disabilities, intellectual disabilities, autism, and mental health disabilities. A disability will affect each person differently.
When designing or choosing hiring technologies, employers must consider how their tools could impact different disabilities.For example, a state transportation agency that designs its hiring technology to avoid discriminating against blind applicants may still violate the ADA if its technology discriminates against applicants with autism or epilepsy....
Employers should examine hiring technologies before use, and regularly when in use, to assess whether they screen out individuals with disabilities who can perform the essential functions of the job with or without required reasonable accommodations.For example, if a county government uses facial and voice analysis technologies to evaluate applicants’ skills and abilities, people with disabilities like autism or speech impairments may be screened out, even if they are qualified for the job.
