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If an AI-assisted hiring, testing, monitoring, pay, promotion, layoff, or termination process may have treated you unfairly, create a dated factual record immediately. Capture the employment decision, the technology and steps involved, the employer’s explanation, your communications and accommodation requests, the people involved, and the harm you experienced. Preserve complete records without altering them, and separate what you know from what you suspect.

This guide is based on U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance. AI use by itself does not prove discrimination. Your documentation should connect the tool or process, the decision, the protected characteristic or accommodation issue you believe is relevant, and the resulting harm. Because charge-filing deadlines can be strict, contact the EEOC or a qualified employment lawyer promptly rather than waiting to complete your file.

Start with a factual, dated timeline

Your first record should be a chronology, not an argument. Make an entry for each relevant event, including events before the final decision. The EEOC’s investigative guidance treats background, work history, job duties, events leading to a decision, and the decision itself as relevant evidence. See EEOC, CM-602 Evidence.

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  1. Identify the action. State whether the issue involved an application rejection, screening failure, interview result, test score, workplace monitoring, pay decision, promotion, layoff, discipline, or termination.
  2. Write the dates and times. Include when you applied, tested, interviewed, received instructions, requested help, received a result, and learned about the decision. If you do not know an exact date, use an approximate date and label it as such.
  3. Record how you learned the result. Quote or accurately summarize the email, portal message, phone call, meeting, or other notice. Note who delivered it and who else was present.
  4. Capture the explanation. Write the employer’s stated reason in its own words where possible. Do not replace it with your interpretation.
  5. Add relevant work context. For an existing employee, describe your role, actual duties, tenure, performance history, prior feedback, compensation, and any recent changes that relate to the decision.
  6. Mark later recollections. If you remember an event after the fact, add the date you made the entry and identify it as a later recollection instead of presenting it as a note made contemporaneously.

Keep a separate column or notation showing the source of every fact: your own observation, a document, a named person’s statement, or an inference. That distinction helps an investigator evaluate reliability and prevents an assumption from becoming an accidental “fact.”

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Document exactly how AI or automated technology entered the process

Do not assert that an employer used AI merely because a process felt automated. Record the basis for your belief: a notice, instruction, statement by a recruiter or manager, a platform name, a screen, or another identifiable fact. The EEOC’s worker guidance lists many possible uses, including resume keyword screening, recorded-video evaluation, chatbots, timed tasks, location tracking, facial-expression or voice analysis, email and keystroke monitoring, and recommendations affecting pay, promotion, layoffs, or termination. Read the agency’s examples in Employment Discrimination and AI for Workers.

Record the tool and the point of use

  • Name the assessment, application, chatbot, monitoring system, platform, vendor, or feature if it was disclosed.
  • State where it appeared: application screening, interview, skills test, onboarding, daily monitoring, scheduling, performance review, compensation, promotion, discipline, layoff, or termination.
  • Identify who told you about the tool and their role. If the information came from a written notice, preserve that notice.
  • Note whether the tool appeared to make a recommendation, produce a score, rank candidates, flag conduct, or make an apparently final decision.

Describe what you were asked to do

  • Copy the instructions, prompts, questions, time limits, scoring directions, and warnings as closely as possible.
  • Describe the required device, camera, microphone, browser, location access, typing, speech, movement, or other inputs.
  • Record what the system measured or appeared to measure, such as keywords, task completion time, facial movement, voice characteristics, keystrokes, location, or response content.
  • Save any score, error message, warning, ranking, rejection notice, or result displayed to you. Include the date, time, and account or application context.

If you only know that a process was automated but not whether it used machine learning or another form of AI, say exactly that. The distinction may matter to the investigation, but you do not need to resolve the technical classification yourself.

Preserve records in complete, usable form

Preserve information you already have lawful access to. The EEOC describes original documents, or true and correct copies, as especially reliable evidence. Keep the full item with its date and context rather than saving only a cropped sentence or screenshot. The agency’s evidence guidance is at CM-602 Evidence.

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Personal copies to keep

  • The job posting, job description, application, resume, cover letter, portfolio, and recruiter messages.
  • Assessment instructions, consent screens, interview invitations, test results, score reports, and automated notices.
  • Emails, text messages, internal messages, letters, meeting invitations, performance records, pay statements, schedules, and written explanations.
  • Accommodation requests, medical or religious information you voluntarily submitted for that purpose, and every response or delay.
  • Notes of calls and meetings, including date, participants, subjects discussed, and follow-up promises.

Keep original files in their original format when possible and make a working copy for annotation. Maintain a simple index listing the file name, date received or created, source, and what it shows. Do not edit the original, fabricate metadata, or combine separate messages into a misleading excerpt.

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Handle confidential information carefully

Do not access systems, coworker accounts, personnel files, recordings, or monitoring data you are not authorized to use. Do not remove or disclose confidential employer or coworker information unnecessarily. If a relevant record likely exists only in an employer’s or third party’s possession, note its likely existence and ask an appropriate contact or agency about it. You are not required to prove a case using records you cannot lawfully obtain.

Identify decision makers, witnesses, and comparators

Decision makers and communicators

List every person who made, initiated, recommended, approved, implemented, or communicated the decision. For each person, record the title, department, role in the process, and what the person said or did. A recruiter who communicated an automated rejection may not be the person who selected the screening criteria; preserving both roles helps clarify responsibility.

Witnesses

Record names and contact information for people who directly observed the test, interview, accommodation request, meeting, monitoring practice, or decision. Write what each person may know without pressuring anyone to adopt your interpretation. A witness who saw a manager explain a score is different from a person who only heard a rumor.

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Similarly situated people

If you know of applicants or coworkers who were treated differently or the same, record the factual basis for the comparison: job, qualifications, timing, supervisor, process, score, stated reason, and outcome. Do not guess about confidential compensation, protected characteristics, or performance information you do not actually know. The EEOC identifies decision makers, witnesses, and comparators as possible investigative lines of inquiry in CM-602 Evidence.

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Connect the harm to a protected issue without overstating it

Describe the concrete effect: you were rejected, received a lower score, lost an interview, were denied a promotion, paid less, monitored more heavily, laid off, disciplined, or terminated. Then explain why you believe a protected characteristic or accommodation issue may be relevant. Federal protections described by the EEOC include race, color, religion, sex (including gender, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age 40 or older, disability, and genetic information. The list and worker examples appear in Employment Discrimination and AI for Workers.

Use calibrated language. “The rejection followed my request for a screen-reader-compatible test, and the employer did not offer another format” states observable facts. “The algorithm is biased against disabled applicants” is a conclusion that may require technical and comparative evidence. Keep both, if relevant, but label the second as your concern or inference.

Document accommodation barriers in detail

An automated test can create a disability-related problem even when the employer did not intend discrimination. The EEOC warns that AI tools may screen out qualified workers with disabilities and explains that employers may have accommodation obligations. See Tips for Workers: The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Use of Software, Algorithms, and Artificial Intelligence and the agency’s May 12, 2022 warning.

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What to record

  • The disability, religious practice, pregnancy-related limitation, or other condition only to the extent needed to explain the barrier and request.
  • The task or skill the assessment appeared to measure.
  • The feature that created difficulty: speech analysis, timed typing, eye contact, facial movement, a camera requirement, inaccessible software, scheduling, or another format issue.
  • Why the format may not reflect your ability to perform the essential job duties.
  • When, how, and to whom you requested an accommodation, and the exact response, delay, alternative, or refusal.

You may ask to be evaluated in a way that shows your ability to do the job. The EEOC’s worker tip sheet says using the phrase “reasonable accommodation” is optional; the substance of the request matters more than a particular label.

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How to organize the file for a complaint or consultation

Create one chronological folder and one evidence index. Use consistent file names such as 2026-10-16_test-result.pdf; do not overwrite earlier versions. A short written summary can help an investigator or lawyer understand the issue, but attach the underlying records rather than relying on the summary alone.

  1. One-page overview: identify the employer, position or job, action, key dates, known technology, protected issue or accommodation concern, and current harm.
  2. Timeline: list each event in date order with the source of the information.
  3. Technology record: describe the platform, instructions, inputs, outputs, and basis for believing automation or AI was involved.
  4. People list: separate decision makers, communicators, witnesses, and possible comparators.
  5. Document index: give each item a number, date, source, and short description.
  6. Open questions: list records you believe exist but cannot access, such as scoring criteria, audit logs, vendor reports, or internal review notes.

This organization does not guarantee that a claim will succeed. It makes the known facts, missing evidence, and disputed inferences easier to evaluate.

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Choose the right help and act before deadlines expire

Someone who thinks an employer’s AI or automated technology caused discrimination may contact the EEOC by phone or through its Public Portal; verify the current route on the agency’s worker information before filing. Most federal employment-discrimination laws enforced by the EEOC require a Charge of Discrimination before a lawsuit, and strict filing deadlines apply. The deadline varies with the facts, employer, state, local jurisdiction, and alleged basis, so do not rely on a single universal number. Contact the EEOC or a qualified employment lawyer promptly. Start with EEOC Employers for current filing information.

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Situation What to confirm Why it matters
Private employer Employer coverage, protected basis, work location, and applicable charge deadline Federal and state or local routes may overlap or differ.
State or local public employer The responsible civil-rights agency, exhaustion rules, and deadline Local procedures may not match the federal process.
Federal employee or applicant The federal-sector EEO process and the correct counselor or agency contact Federal employees and applicants have a different complaint process.

The EEOC may obtain comparative, statistical, technical, or internal decision records from the employer, witnesses, or other sources. Not having those records personally does not mean they do not exist or that you cannot raise the concern.

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Understand confidentiality, notification, and retaliation

Initial contact with the EEOC is confidential until a charge is filed. Filing requires identifying information, and the employer is notified; the EEOC says the employer receives the charging party’s name and basic allegation information. Details are explained on EEOC Confidentiality.

Retaliation for filing a charge or participating in an EEOC investigation is unlawful. If a later adverse action occurs, record the date, decision maker, stated reason, witnesses, and relationship to your complaint. Tell the investigator promptly if a charge is already open. Do not assume every later workplace dispute is retaliation; document the facts and timing so the agency can assess the connection.

Know what employer retention rules do—and do not—mean

Covered employers generally must retain personnel and employment records for one year, although payroll and other records can have different periods. When a charge is filed, preservation duties can extend through final disposition. The EEOC’s current requirements are at Recordkeeping Requirements.

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Those rules describe employer obligations, not a guaranteed personal preservation window and not a promise that a particular AI log, vendor record, or scoring file exists. Preserve your own records now, identify missing items, and ask the EEOC or counsel how to seek information held by the employer or a third party.

A final checklist before you contact the EEOC or a lawyer

  • Have I recorded the decision, dates, notice, and stated explanation?
  • Have I described the technology only to the extent supported by something I saw or was told?
  • Did I preserve complete originals or true copies with their context?
  • Have I identified decision makers, witnesses, and fact-based comparisons?
  • Have I explained the concrete harm and the protected characteristic or accommodation issue I believe may be involved?
  • Did I document every accommodation request and response?
  • Have I separated observed facts, documents, statements, and inferences?
  • Have I noted records likely held by the employer or a vendor?
  • Have I checked the correct route and deadline for my employment category and jurisdiction?
  • Have I recorded any adverse action after seeking help or filing a charge?

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