Last week, the EU Commission published details of two initiatives that could have significant labour law implications.
First, and probably the more important, the Commission released details of a proposed Directive on AI Liability which will see those who believed that they have suffered losses as a result of AI-based decisions given the right to claim compensation. The Commission says:
The purpose of the AI Liability Directive is to lay down uniform rules for access to information and alleviation of the burden of proof in relation to damages caused by AI systems, establishing broader protection for victims (be it individuals or businesses), and fostering the AI sector by increasing guarantees. It will harmonise certain rules for claims outside of the scope of the Product Liability Directive, in cases in which damage is caused due to wrongful behaviour. This covers, for example, breaches of privacy, or damages caused by safety issues. The new rules will, for instance, make it easier to obtain compensation if someone has been discriminated in a recruitment process involving AI technology.
This Directive will have to be read in conjunction with the proposed Regulation on AI Governance which sees AI-based human resource as “high risk” and which will impose significant information and consultation obligations on businesses around the use of algorithms. It is likely that works councils will be quick to take advantage of the new rights when enacted.
It will take time to read the proposed Directive in detail and to fully understand its implications. We will come back to this soon.
|
We plan to run a workshop in early 2023 on “Data Privacy, AI Governance, and Employee Information and Consultation.” Drop an email to tom.hayes@beerg.com if you would like further information when available. |
Second, the Commission confirmed that, in future, EU competition law will be interpreted in such a way that will allow solo self-employed workers to organise and bargaining collectively. Until now, questions hung over the right of such workers to do so as they are seen as “undertakings” and EU law prohibits undertakings from getting together to fix market conditions, such as prices. New Guidelines have now been issued to clarify the situation.
Launching the Guidelines, the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, said:
“Solo self-employed people in the digital economy and beyond may not be able to individually negotiate good working terms and therefore may face difficult working conditions. Getting together to collectively negotiate can be a powerful tool to improve such conditions. The new Guidelines aim to provide legal certainty to the solo self-employed people by clarifying when competition law does not stand in the way of their efforts to negotiate collectively for a better deal."
