EEOC v. iTutorGroup: AI Hiring Software Automatically Rejected Women 55+ and Men 60+, Screening Out 200+ Qualified Tutors
Incident Details
Summary
iTutorGroup, a Chinese company hiring U.S. residents as online English tutors, programmed its AI recruitment software to automatically reject female applicants aged 55 or older and male applicants aged 60 or older, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The discrimination was discovered by charging party Wendy Picus, who applied with her real birth date, was immediately rejected, then applied again the following day with a more recent birth date and received an interview offer. The EEOC filed suit on May 5, 2022 — its first-ever AI hiring discrimination lawsuit. More than 200 qualified applicants were screened out because of their age. In August 2023, iTutorGroup settled for $365,000, agreed to adopt anti-discrimination policies, and submitted to five years of EEOC monitoring. The case became the landmark precedent establishing that AI hiring tools are fully subject to federal civil rights laws.
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