Purpose

• Regulate the use of automated decision systems (ADS) in employment settings in Minnesota.
• Protect workers’ rights by requiring advance notice, data transparency, and a formal process to challenge ADS-based employment decisions.
• Establish rules for how worker data is collected, stored, accessed, corrected, and potentially deleted.
• Create enforcement mechanisms including penalties for violations.

Key Concepts and Definitions (for clarity)

• Automated decision system (ADS): any computer process using machine learning, statistics, data analytics, or AI that outputs scores, classifications, or recommendations and affects a worker’s employment.
• Worker data: any information that identifies or is linked to a worker, including personal, biometric, health, or workplace data.
• Electronic monitoring tool: systems that collect data on worker activities or behaviors (e.g., video/audio surveillance, geolocation, keystrokes, time tracking).
• Internal reviewer: a designated person within the employer who verifies ADS outputs and gathers corroborating information.
• Impact assessment: an evaluation of how the ADS affects workers and employment outcomes.
• Authorized representative: a person or organization an employee or worker appoints to act on their behalf.

Main Provisions

1) Preuse Notice to Deploy ADS (Sec. 181.9922) - Employers must tell workers, their authorized representatives, and unions in writing that an ADS will be used for employment decisions. - Notice timing: - New ADS: at least 30 days before use. - Existing ADS as of effective date: by Sept. 1, 2026. - Notice must be plain language and in the worker’s routine communication language. - A copy of the notice must be sent to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry within 10 days of giving it to the worker. - Consent and alternatives: - Job applicants or workers must give affirmative written consent before subject to ADS. - If reasonable alternatives exist, workers must be allowed to opt out of ADS. - Contents of the notice include: purpose and scope of decisions, data sources, ADS logic and outputs, who created and runs the ADS, what is being assessed, any impact assessments, a current list of all ADS in use, and workers’ rights.

2) Records and Data Management (Sec. 181.9923) - Employers must keep records of the worker data used or produced by the ADS, including inputs and outputs, for 36 months after the last data collection or use. - Data destruction: must destroy data no later than 37 months after last collection/use unless the worker provided written consent to retain it. - Data protection: must safeguard data according to applicable data privacy laws and privacy practices. - Workers have rights to access and correct their data.

3) Prohibitions and Limitations on ADS (Sec. 181.9924) - Employers cannot use ADS to: - Violate laws or regulations. - Infer or predict sensitive attributes (e.g., immigration status, political beliefs, health, genetic data) or any traits unrelated to essential job functions. - Identify or take adverse action based on a worker exercising legal rights. - Rely on facial, gait, or emotion recognition technologies. - Collect data for purposes not disclosed in the required notice. - ADS-based compensation: cannot set pay based on individualized worker data unless the inputs are clearly related to job performance and workers are informed. - Frequency and changes: ADS can be used at most once every six months per worker or only with a meaningful change in duties. - Retaliation: workers cannot be punished for refusing to follow ADS outputs if doing so would harm or discriminate against them or violate laws. - Continuous time-tracking data: cannot be used to justify adverse actions except in cases of egregious misconduct.

4) Employment-Related Decisions and Internal Oversight (Sec. 181.9924, continued) - Employers must not rely solely on ADS when making employment decisions. - If ADS is used in part, an internal reviewer must verify the ADS output and gather corroborating information (e.g., supervisor evaluations, personnel files, peer reviews).

5) Postuse Notice and Right to Access (Sec. 181.9925) - After an ADS-based decision, employers must provide a written notice to the affected worker: - Within 15 business days of the decision (or 30 days before discipline/termination, whichever is earlier). - Notice must be plain language and in the workplace’s routine language. - Notice must describe: that ADS was used, workers’ rights, and how to appeal or request more information. - If an ADS is used multiple times in a quarter, the employer must provide: - The full notice for the first use each quarter, and - A summary notice at quarter end with the number of uses, dates, and a reminder of workers’ rights. - Right to access: workers can request their data, ADS inputs/outputs, and how the outputs were used, including: - The decision rationale and human involvement. - Corroborating information or judgments used in the decision. - How the ADS logic and its limitations were applied to the worker. - Key parameters affecting the output and how they applied to the worker. - The range of possible outputs and how the worker compares to others. - The ADS product name, creator, and any impact assessments.

6) Right to Appeal (Sec. 181.9926) - Workers can appeal ADS-based employment decisions using a provided form or link. - Appeal options include access to input/output data and any corroborating evidence used by a human reviewer. - Appeal window: must be filed within 30 days of receipt of the notice. - Employer response: a human reviewer must be designated to evaluate the appeal within 5 business days. - The reviewer must be empowered to overturn the decision and must not have been involved in the original decision. - The reviewer’s written decision must be shared with both employer and worker. - If the decision is overturned, the employer must implement adjustments within 5 business days.

7) Enforcement and Penalties (Sec. 181.9927) - Anti-retaliation: employers cannot discharge, threaten, demote, suspend, or discriminate against workers for exercising their rights. - Enforcement: the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry enforces these provisions, including investigations, temporary relief, and penalties. - Civil penalties: - $1,000 per violation for sections 181.9922 or 181.9925 (and each quarterly use of an ADS counts as a separate violation). - $2,500 per violation for sections 181.9923, 181.9924, or 181.9926 (each use of ADS can count as a separate violation). - Liability: employers and their labor contractors or vendors are jointly and severally liable for violations. - Preemption: state rules do not preempt city/county ordinances that provide equal or greater protections. - Model notice: the state must publish model notice language for notices required under 181.9922 and 181.9925.

Significant Changes to Existing Law (What’s New)

• Creates a comprehensive framework for ADS in employment, including definitions, notice requirements, data retention, and a formal rights-based process for workers.
• Establishes preuse and postuse notice requirements, including consent and opt-out provisions.
• Replaces or augments existing practices with formal accountability structures (internal reviewers, corroborating evidence, and impact assessments).
• Introduces a right-to-access and right-to-appeal process for ADS-based employment decisions, with deadlines and an expedited internal review process.
• Sets civil penalties and joint liability for employers and contractors/vendors, with enhanced protections and penalties for violations.
• Allows for local (city/county) protections to coexist with state law, and requires a model notice to help standardize communications.

Practical Implications

• Employers must plan ADS deployments more carefully, including stakeholder Bargaining (unions), worker notices, and consent processes.
• Workers gain clearer rights to understand, access, and challenge ADS-driven decisions.
• The state provides a standardized framework for transparency, accountability, and remedies in ADS use at work.

Relevant Terms - automated decision system - worker data - ADS output - preuse notice - postuse notice - essential job functions - electronic monitoring tool - internal reviewer - corroborating evidence - impact assessment - data records - data destruction - right to access - appeal - model notice - civil penalties - joint and several liability - enforcement - anti-retaliation - opt out - consent - unions - authorized representative - vendor - employment-related decision - meaningful change in work duties - timing (30 days, 15 days, 7 days, 5 business days) - plain language notice