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Massachusetts hearing spotlights FAIR Act to curb workplace AI surveillance and automated decisions
Summary
Union leaders, worker advocates and national experts urged the Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology to back the FAIR Act (H77/S35), saying employers’ use of AI systems for monitoring, benefits decisions and performance evaluations is widespread, error-prone and causing real hardship for workers.
A hearing of the Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet, and Cybersecurity featured broad support for the FAIR Act (H77/S35) as labor leaders, worker representatives and national experts described how employer use of artificial intelligence is already disrupting pay, benefits and workplace safety.
Advocates said automation and so-called “bossware” — software that tracks employee behavior and feeds algorithmic decision systems — has led to denied medical claims, delayed wage replacement, rejected doctors’ notes and other problems that have real consequences for workers who live paycheck to paycheck.
The FAIR Act would limit intrusive employee data collection, require disclosure when employers use automated decision systems, mandate meaningful human review for employment decisions that rely on AI, and strengthen anti‑retaliation protections. The bill’s supporters told the committee that those protections are needed now because…
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