Linda D. Walton Partner

With the explosion of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace, employers are coming up against challenges with organized labor that many employers may not have previously considered.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, the White House, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are warning companies that uncritical reliance on AI can have legal consequences, including potentially building in bias that can lead to claims of employment discrimination.

"Trump's Rollback of Regulations Creates Tricky Landscape for Area Employers," by Chelsea Petersen and Linda Walton, was published in the Puget Sound Business Journal highlighting the importance for employers in Washington state and across the country to stay abreast of local, state and federal workforce regulations in the months and years ahead.

In a July 23, 2014, report entitled “21st Century Barriers to Women’s Entrepreneurship,” the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship found that while women-owned businesses are critical to our economy, “women entrepreneurs have not achieved their full potential — largely due to issues they have faced for more than three decades.”

Partner Linda Walton authored Chapter Two—"Employment Law Issues"—of this comprehensive guide to the range of legal issues surrounding social media, including content liability, privacy, data security, employment law, intellectual property, and general business and contracting issues.

AI has the power to reduce or heighten unlawful discrimination in hiring and other employment practices.