District Court Grants Preliminary Certification of Collective Action for Discrimination Claim Against AI-based System
Summary
On May 16, 2025, US District Judge Rita Lin in the Northern District of California granted a motion for preliminary certification of a collective action on an employment discrimination claim targeting an artificial intelligence (AI)-based application recommendation system. Plaintiff Derek Mobley brought the employment discrimination action against Workday, Inc., alleging that Workday’s AI-based applicant recommendation system discriminated against job applicants on the basis of race, age and disability.
The court preliminarily found that the proposed collective is similarly situated because the plaintiff substantially alleged the existence of a unified policy: the use of Workday’s AI recommendation system to score, sort, rank, or screen applicants. The court also found that critical issue—disparate impact on applicants over forty—cuts across the proposed collective.
The Order allows the plaintiff to notify similarly situated individuals of the lawsuit and provide them an opportunity to opt-in having their claims heard on a collective basis. After discovery, Workday will have the opportunity to present evidence that the collective is not similarly situated and ask the court to revisit its preliminary decision.
