Employment law and AI
Employment law is defined as ‘the body of law that governs the relationship between working people and their employers’, 6 implying that it mainly scrutinizes the relationship between workers already under a contract and their employers. However, in recent times this narrow definition has been challenged by many critics such as Mark Freedland who argues that employment law should extend beyond the contract of employment, proposing instead the theory of personal work nexuses (PWNs) which implicate other stakeholders such as ‘labour market entrants’ 7 under the jurisdiction of employment law. Thus, for the purposes of this essay, ‘employment law’ will encompass not only legislation governing the relationship between employers and employees but also that concerning the relationship between these two groups and other stakeholders included in their ‘personal work nexuses’, such as candidates for job positions. The outdated general definition of employment law may present a cautionary tale of the nature of employment law itself, especially regarding AI. The question remains as to whether the current legislation on the subject, such as the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Equality Act 2010, 8 which were devised in an era before this technology came to prominence, can effectively serve as a protective framework against the perils of AI. This essay contends that, while current employment law can provide some safeguards against the dangers of AI in the areas of recruitment and employee management, it is in dire need of recalibration to keep abreast of the novelties that AI brings, to maintain the tenuous balance between innovation, equity and transparency in the workplace.
6 ‘Employment Law | Faculty of Law.’ Faculty of Law , 2024, www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/labour-law. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024. 7 FREEDLAND, M. ‘Application of Labour and Employment Law beyond the Contract of Employment’, International Labour Review , vol. 146, no. 1-2, Mar. 2007, pp. 3–20, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564913x.2007.00002.x. 8 Cole, M. ‘List of Employment Laws in the UK’, Croner , 5 May 2023, www.croner.co.uk/resources/employment-law/legislation-list/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2024.
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