What Happened
Derek Mobley alleged that Workday's algorithmic applicant-screening tools discriminated by age, race, and disability after he was rejected from more than 100 jobs at companies using the platform. On May 16, 2025, Judge Rita Lin of the Northern District of California granted preliminary certification for a nationwide collective action under the ADEA, covering applicants aged 40 and over screened since September 2020. The court held that an AI vendor participating in hiring decisions can be liable just as a human decision-maker would be.
Impact
The ruling opened Workday to claims from a potentially enormous applicant pool — filings referenced over a billion rejected applications processed in the period — and established influential precedent that anti-discrimination law reaches AI screening vendors, not just employers.
How to Prevent This
- Conduct independent bias audits of AI screening tools across age, race, and disability before and during use
- Retain decision logs so individual rejections can be explained and reviewed
- Contractually allocate bias-testing and audit duties between HR-software vendors and employer customers
- Provide human review or appeal channels for automated rejections
- Validate that ranking features are job-related and not proxies for protected traits