iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework on September 24, 2024. Developed by the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT) with funding from DOL’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), it is an employer-facing resource for assessing, acquiring, and deploying artificial-intelligence hiring technology. Its goal is to help reduce unintended discrimination and accessibility barriers, including barriers that can disadvantage disabled job seekers.
What the Labor Department announced
The announcement describes a framework rather than a certification program, procurement standard, or regulation. It gives organizations a structured way to examine AI-supported hiring systems and their effects on applicants and workers.
The framework contains 10 focus areas, each supported by practices, goals, and sample activities. DOL says it is based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework and was developed with input from disability advocates, artificial-intelligence specialists, government and industry leaders, and members of the public.
Recommended Free Tools
Taryn Williams, DOL’s Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy, said in the September 24, 2024 announcement: “The AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework published today charts a clear course for employers to navigate this transformation successfully.”
#1 Best Overall
Why inclusive AI hiring is a concern
Employers increasingly use software to advertise jobs, screen applications, assess skills, schedule interviews, or recommend candidates. These tools can create barriers when their data, design, interfaces, or evaluation methods do not account for disability and other forms of human variation.
Potential problems include an inaccessible application interface, an assessment that measures a disability-related limitation rather than job ability, speech or facial-analysis tools that perform unevenly across people, and historical hiring data that reproduces earlier discrimination. The DOL announcement frames these as risks to examine, not as proof that every AI system produces a particular error rate or outcome.
Rank #2
What the framework is—and is not
| Question | What the available DOL description establishes |
|---|---|
| Who is it for? | Organizations assessing, acquiring, or deploying AI hiring technology. |
| What does it address? | Ways to reduce unintended discrimination and accessibility barriers and increase benefits for disabled job seekers. |
| How is it organized? | Ten focus areas containing practices, goals, and sample activities. |
| Does it certify vendors or systems? | No. It is presented as a framework and resource, not a certification. |
| Does following it guarantee legal compliance? | No such guarantee is established in the announcement. |
| Is it an outcome study? | No. The cited material does not report adoption rates, hiring error rates, or measured impact. |
How employers can use it in practice
The framework is most useful as a decision process that starts before a tool is purchased and continues after deployment.
1. Define the hiring decision and the people affected
Document what the system will do—such as rank applications, score an assessment, or recommend an interview—and which applicants, employees, recruiters, and hiring managers will interact with it. Include disabled applicants and people who use assistive technology in the affected population.
2. Set accessibility and discrimination requirements before procurement
Ask vendors to explain supported assistive technologies, alternative assessment methods, accommodation procedures, data sources, validation methods, and known limitations. Treat accessibility as a selection requirement rather than an optional feature.
3. Test the complete candidate journey
Evaluate job advertisements, account creation, application forms, assessments, interview tools, status messages, and accommodation requests. Testing should include people with different disabilities and common assistive technologies where relevant to the role.
Rank #4
4. Keep meaningful human review
Do not let an automated score become an unchallengeable employment decision. Recruiters and managers should understand the system’s role, review relevant information, investigate anomalies, and provide a way to correct inaccurate or inaccessible results.
5. Monitor after launch
Establish a process for recording complaints, accommodation requests, technical failures, and differences in screening or progression. Recheck the system when its model, data, vendor, job requirements, or user interface changes. The DOL materials do not prescribe a single statistical test or reporting interval, so employers must define controls appropriate to their use case and legal obligations.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Related DOL guidance is separate
DOL issued several AI-related resources in sequence, but they are not interchangeable.
| Date | Resource | Role |
|---|---|---|
| May 16, 2024 | AI and Worker Well-being principles | Principles emphasizing ethical development, transparency, meaningful worker engagement, protection of worker rights, and AI that enhances work. |
| September 24, 2024 | AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework | Ten-focus-area resource for organizations assessing, acquiring, or deploying AI hiring technology, with explicit attention to disability inclusion. |
| October 16, 2024 | AI Best Practices roadmap | Guidance for developers and employers, including meaningful human oversight for significant employment decisions, transparency, worker input, rights protection, training, and worker-data security. |
| February 13, 2026 | AI Literacy Framework (Training and Employment Notice 07-25) | A separate resource for public workforce and education systems; it is not identified as a revision or replacement of the 2024 inclusive-hiring framework. |
The October 2024 best-practices announcement provides useful controls for an employer’s broader workplace-AI program, but those controls should not be presented as the 10 focus areas of the inclusive-hiring framework. Acting Secretary Julie Su summarized the broader policy context by saying: “We have a shared responsibility to ensure that AI is used to expand equality, advance equity, develop opportunity and improve job quality.”
Questions employers should ask vendors and internal teams
- Can every applicant complete the process with assistive technology or an effective alternative?
- What job-related evidence supports each automated recommendation or score?
- What training data, validation groups, and performance limitations are documented?
- How can an applicant request an accommodation, correction, or human review?
- Who is accountable for a decision when the system is supplied by a third party?
- How are applicant and worker data protected, retained, and shared?
- How are recruiters trained to interpret outputs without treating them as definitive?
What this means for job seekers
The framework is aimed primarily at employers, but its emphasis on accessibility supports practical expectations for applicants. A candidate should be able to request an accommodation, use an accessible alternative where needed, and seek clarification when an automated process affects progression. Employers remain responsible for designing a process that does not turn a technical limitation into an assessment of a person’s ability to do the job.
Limits of the announcement
The available DOL announcements establish the framework’s purpose, structure, and development, but they do not show how many employers have adopted it or whether it has produced a measured change in hiring outcomes. They also do not establish that using the framework, by itself, satisfies every federal, state, or local employment requirement. Organizations should treat it as a risk-management and inclusion resource alongside applicable law, accessibility obligations, collective-bargaining commitments, and their own documented controls.
The Bottom Line
DOL’s September 24, 2024 AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework gives employers a 10-focus-area way to examine accessibility and discrimination risks in AI-supported hiring. It is voluntary guidance, not a certification or a guarantee of compliance, and it should be used with meaningful human oversight, transparent processes, worker input, rights protection, training, and strong data security.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
