Artificial Intelligence (AI) and your rights

Data protection rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to be informed about what data is being collected about you and why. This includes being told when AI systems are being used to make decisions that affect you. You also have the right to access your personal data through a Subject Access Request, which employers must respond to within one month in most cases.

You can object to certain types of processing, which is particularly relevant to workplace monitoring and profiling. Additionally, there are extra protections for ‘special category data’ such as health information, trade union membership, and biometric data like fingerprints or facial recognition. 

Workplace privacy

While technology has made it easier for employers to monitor staff, your right to privacy still applies at work. Any monitoring must be proportionate and necessary, with a clear and legitimate reason for employer surveillance. You should always be informed about monitoring taking place.

Covert monitoring should only happen in exceptional circumstances, such as when there’s suspicion of serious wrongdoing. Even then, it should be targeted and time-limited, with a Data Protection Impact Assessment conducted first.

If you’re working from home, your privacy rights extend to your home environment. Employers should not use intrusive monitoring in your home, and there should be clear boundaries between work and personal life. 

Protection from discrimination

The Equality Act 2010 protects you from discrimination based on protected characteristics, even when AI systems are involved. Employers remain responsible for discriminatory outcomes, even if they’re caused by an AI system. This could include AI recruitment tools that favour certain demographic groups or performance management systems that disadvantage disabled workers. 

Right to human decision-making

Under UK GDPR, you have the right not to be subject to purely automated decisions that significantly affects you. You can request human intervention, express your point of view, and contest such decisions. Employers should maintain meaningful human oversight of AI systems, with managers able to override AI decisions where appropriate. 

Gaps in current protection

There are significant gaps in the current legal framework. It can be difficult to know when AI is being used to make decisions, and the inner workings of AI systems are often opaque. Workers often lack access to the data and algorithms used to make decisions about them, creating an information asymmetry that makes it hard to challenge those decisions. 

The TUC’s AI Bill

UNISON strongly supports the TUC’s Artificial Intelligence (Regulation and Employment) Bill, which aims to fill the gaps in current UK employment law by providing stronger protections for workers affected by AI.

The Bill includes key provisions that would:

• create a legal duty on employers to consult trade unions before using ‘high risk’ AI in the workplace;
• give workers the right to a personalised explanation of high-risk decisions made using AI;
• establish a right to human review of decisions made by AI systems;
• prohibit the use of emotion recognition technology that could be detrimental to workers;
• strengthen protections against discriminatory algorithms and shift the burden of proof to employers;
• create a statutory right to disconnect from work, allowing workers to switch off outside working hours;
• protect workers from unfair dismissal based on AI decisions;
• give trade unions greater access to data collected about their members.

This Bill would help ensure that AI is used responsibly and fairly in the workplace, protecting workers’ rights while still allowing for beneficial innovation. 

What UNISON is doing

UNISON supports calls for stronger legal protections for workers facing AI introduction in their work. We are actively campaigning for the adoption of the TUC’s AI Bill and promoting the right to disconnect from work, creating ‘communication-free’ time outside working hours and helping prevent AI from intensifying work and extending working hours.

UNISON believes employers should be required to document and disclose all AI systems used in the workplace, with workers having the right to understand how these systems make decisions about them.

You can find out more about the issues surrounding AI on our Key issues page. 

Legal disclaimer 

The information contained within this article is not a complete or final statement of the law and is based on the laws of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

While UNISON has sought to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date, it is not responsible and will not be held liable for any inaccuracies and their consequences, including any loss arising from relying on this information. If you are a UNISON member with a legal problem, please contact your branch or region as soon as possible for advice, or for non-employment matters call UNISONdirect.