Welcome to The Hero 🗞️. This is approximately a 3-minute read.
⚖️ The AI hiring lawsuit that just put 11,000+ employers on the hook
🚔 The law that protects the job applicant
🛡️ The audit that keeps you out of court
🔥 Get Your Head of Talent AI Skills Here
TL;DR
Derek Mobley applied to 100+ jobs screened by Workday's AI. Rejected every time - some within minutes, before a human ever looked. He sued.
Workday's AI rejected 1.1 billion applications. Now a court is deciding if that broke the law - and the employers who used it are on the hook too.
Under U.S. employment law, "the vendor's tool did it" is not a defense. If the AI you use to screen people discriminates, you answer for it.
🤖 AI Isn't Just a Vendor Problem
Every recruiter using an AI screen has made the same quiet bet:
If the AI screws up, that's the vendor's problem. Not mine.
It makes sense…
You didn't build the thing. You just turned it on.
But here’s the turn.
If that AI quietly filters out older candidates - or one race, or people with disabilities - that's on you.
And that bet just got expensive.
Because a court looked at this exact setup, and said the line doesn't hold.
The full breakdown is just below - don’t miss it! 😉
Links of the Day:
⚖️ The Case
🤖 AI Hiring Liability
📰 The Bigger Picture
👨⚖️ The Case
Derek Mobley had a finance degree from Morehouse College.
Years of experience in finance, IT, and customer service.
He applied to more than 100 jobs at companies using Workday's AI screen.
Rejected.
Every, single, time.
Some came back in minutes.
One even came in the middle of the night - before any human could have opened it.
So, in 2023, he sued.
He said the AI screened him out for his race, his age, and his disability.
This March, the court threw out Workday's main defense.
Workday had argued the age law only protects employees - not people applying for jobs.
The court disagreed. It protects both.
And now… other rejected applicants are already lining up to join him.
But here's the part that should stop you cold.
Workday isn't the only one on the hook.
It’s AI rejected over 1.1 billion applications - across 11,000+ companies.
And every company that leaned on it - and never checked it - is in the line of fire too 👀
🛡️ The 15-Minute Audit
You're responsible for how your AI screens people.
Here's how to stay safe:
1. Know the rule.
If your tool rejects one group way more than the rest - by age, race, sex, or disability - you can be on the hook.
Not the vendor…
You 🫵
"The computer decided for us" just got tested in court.
And it lost.
2. Check who's getting rejected.
Pull everyone your tool turned down this past year.
Ask one thing:
is it rejecting older people - or one race, or women, or people with disabilities - more than everyone else?
And ironically enough, you can even use AI do the heavy lifting you 😇
Drop your applicants and your hires into one spreadsheet, upload it to Claude or ChatGPT, and ask it to spot patterns.
If you start to see one group dominate at 80%+, that's your warning sign.
3. Find out what your tool is really doing.
Most recruiters have never seen how their screen actually scores people.
Ask:
What does it use to rank or reject someone?
Was it trained on your old hires? (If yes, it may have copied your old habits.)
Does it lean on anything tied to age - like graduation year or "years of experience"?
👉️ If you can't explain how it works, you’re in trouble…
4. Human Checkpoints.
Once a week, have someone review the people your AI rejected - before the no goes out.
Then keep a simple log that it happened.
A few minutes each week now beats a courtroom later…
And if it ever comes to that, this log will protect you.
5. Warn your hiring managers.
If they use these tools too, they have to know the risk.
One quick chat.
Shoot, even forward them this email - or the Workday case linked above.
Make it everyone's problem - because it is.
To Sum It Up…
A court just made one thing clear:
Your AI screen is your risk.
Check it now, or explain it in court later.
And To Wrap It Up…
If your AI rejects someone illegally - you pay for it.
Not your vendor.
HOW WE CAN HELP?
There are a few ways:
Or you can just reply to this email.
I reply to absolutely everyone who writes me back 🙂
