Scott J. Connolly, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Boston office, was featured in the Boston.com, in “Job Interviews Now Include AI and Personality Tests. Here’s What Candidates Should Know.”
Following is an excerpt:
If you’ve ever interviewed for a job, you’ve been assessed — even if you didn’t realize it.
Today’s hiring assessments are very different from what your parents experienced, or even what an older sibling encountered. Modern interviews run the gamut from typing tests, equation solving, hypothetical questions (“What kind of animal would you be?”), personality-type questionnaires, and more recently, interactions with artificial intelligence.
Over time, interviewers adopted behavioral interviewing as a way to predict on-the-job success. That approach expanded into full-day psychological assessments that might include quantitative tests, a demonstration of written skills, inbox simulations to assess prioritization, and psychological or personality evaluations. …
Attorney Scott Connolly of Epstein Becker Green, a Boston-based labor law expert, points to recent lawsuits involving AI-driven video interview platforms.
In one case, the job applicants alleged that the employer’s AI screening tool functioned as an unlawful lie-detector test under Massachusetts law. The case was ultimately settled.
Massachusetts law prohibits employers from requiring lie-detector tests as a condition of employment. The definition is broad, covering polygraphs and any device, mechanism, instrument, or written examination used to detect deception, according to Connolly. Employers are also required to include a specific notice on job applications and online portals.
