Your Resume Was Rejected by AI. Was That Legal?

What Is Disparate Impact, and Why Does It Matter for AI Hiring?

Most people think of discrimination as someone deciding not to hire you because of your race, age, disability, or other protected traits. That’s called disparate treatment, and it requires intent.
Disparate impact is different: it’s a neutral-looking policy or process that ends up disproportionately screening out a protected group, even if nobody involved meant for that to happen. For example, if a police academy requires cadets to do a certain number of pullups to pass, many women might find themselves screened out. The pullup requirement is facially neutral, but the impact is not.
Federal law generally prohibits employment practices (including AI hiring tools) that disproportionately screen out protected groups unless the employer can justify them under the applicable legal standard.
Courts and the EEOC use a simple math test, called the “four-fifths rule,” to spot this kind of problem. Say 50% of male applicants pass a hiring tool’s screening, but only 30% of female applicants do. Thirty divided by fifty is 60%, which is well under 80% (four-fifths), so this would count as evidence of a substantially different outcome. AI tools can produce results like this without ever being told an applicant’s race, age, or disability status, simply by picking up on patterns, like employment gaps or certain schools, that happen to line up with a protected trait.

Case to Know: Mobley v. Workday

The most significant AI hiring case in the country right now is Mobley v. Workday, Inc., No. 3:23-cv-00770 (N.D. Cal.), an ongoing class and collective action. Derek Mobley alleged that Workday’s AI-powered applicant-screening tools discriminated against him and other applicants based on race, age, and disability, after he was rejected from more than 100 positions at companies that use Workday’s platform. In some cases, he was rejected within minutes of applying.
What makes this case especially significant isn’t just the discrimination allegations themselves, it’s who the court has allowed to be sued. Workday argued it couldn’t be held liable because it’s only a software vendor, not the actual employer making hiring decisions. The court disagreed. It said Workday’s software does more than just follow an employer’s instructions; it actively recommends who moves forward and who gets rejected. That active role was enough for the case to move forward against Workday itself, meaning an AI vendor, not just the employer using its product, can potentially be held directly liable for discriminatory hiring outcomes.
The case is still being actively litigated, and none of these rulings mean Workday has been found liable, but the vendor-liability theory the court has allowed to proceed is itself a significant development for anyone building, selling, or using AI hiring tools.

States Are Filling the Gap

If You Think an AI Hiring Tool Screened You Out Unfairly

While federal anti-discrimination laws apply to AI hiring tools, states and local governments are beginning to establish additional rules governing their use. These measures may require employers to evaluate automated hiring systems for discriminatory outcomes, provide notice when AI is used in employment decisions, or conduct bias audits. Requirements vary by jurisdiction, but the growing focus on AI accountability reflects a broader concern: automated screening should not become a way for discriminatory hiring practices to go undetected.
  • Document the pattern, not just your own rejection. A single rejection rarely proves disparate impact; a pattern across many applicants in a protected group is what actually establishes it. See our Age Discrimination and Disability Discrimination pages for how these claims work outside the AI context as well.
  • Ask what tool was used, and whether it’s been tested. Employers are expected to validate their selection tools against adverse impact, and a refusal to explain how a tool makes decisions is itself a warning sign.
  • An employer generally can’t hide behind a vendor. As Mobley illustrates, using a third party’s AI tool doesn’t automatically shift legal responsibility away from the employer, or necessarily shield the vendor either.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Disparate impact claims don’t require proof of intent. You need to show a selection process produced a substantially different outcome for a protected group, and that the employer can’t justify it as job-related and consistent with business necessity.
It’s an emerging and unsettled area of law. Mobley v. Workday is currently testing exactly this theory, and a court has allowed it to proceed past the motion-to-dismiss stage, but the case has not been finally decided, and the answer may depend heavily on how much decision-making authority a specific tool actually exercises.

Bottom Line

Handing a hiring decision to an algorithm doesn’t hand away legal responsibility for the result. Disparate impact law may apply to AI screening tools the same way it applies to any other selection process. Ongoing litigation like Mobley v. Workday shows that the law may be actively expanding to reach the tools themselves, not just the employers using them.

Questions About AI Hiring Tools and Disparate Impact Discrimination?

Speak with Wilkenfeld Law Office about your situation and learn what options may be available.
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This post provides general information and is not legal advice. If you believe an AI hiring tool treated you unfairly, or you’re an employer trying to evaluate your hiring technology’s compliance, contact us for a free consultation. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Reviewed by Ari Wilkenfeld, Esq. (DC Bar No. 461063; MD Bar No. 9806240300) Ari has over 27 years of experience litigating in federal and state courts, and before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and various arbitration panels. Ari has been recognized by Esquire Magazine as “a famously determined Civil Rights lawyer” and by the New York Post as “a high powered DC Lawyer.” Last updated: September 22, 2026
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