Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Countenancing Employment Discrimination: Facial Recognition In Background Checks, Kerri A. Thompson

Texas A&M Law Review

Employing facial recognition technology implicates anti-discrimination law under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act when used as a factor in employment decisions. The very technological breakthroughs that made facial recognition technology commercially viable—data compression and artificial intelligence— also contribute to making facial recognition technology discriminatory in its effect on members of classes protected by Title VII. This Article first explains how facial recognition technology works and its application in employee background checks. Then, it analyzes whether the use of facial recognition technology in background checks violates Title VII under the disparate impact theory of liability due to the known …