Artificial Intelligence (Regulation and Employment Rights) Bill

38. Fair data use

    1. In accordance with this section, a trade union has the right to be provided with all the data collected by an employer that relates to its members that is used or is proposed to be used by the employer for artificial intelligence decision-making, to the extent that it is reasonably practicable.
    2. Where a trade union makes a request in accordance with this section the employer shall provide the data in an accessible form within 2 months of the date of the request.
    3. Except where the trade union’s members expressly agree in writing the data shall be provided in an anonymised form.
    4. The right in subsection (1) shall not apply in respect of any member of the trade union who notifies the employer in writing of their objection to its collection.
    5. The trade union shall notify the employer of the type of data it seeks and the date range to which the request relates; the range of data shall commence no earlier than 52 weeks prior to the request.
    6. The right conferred by subsection (1) shall be enforceable by complaint to the employment tribunal in accordance with subsections 7 to 10 below.
    7. A complaint brought under subsection (6) shall be commenced within 6 months of the last date by which the employer should have complied with the request.
    8. It shall be for the employer to prove that it was not reasonably practicable to provide any particular data.
    9. If the employment tribunal finds that the complaint is to any extent well founded it shall make a recommendation in accordance with Part 11.
    10. The Secretary of State shall make regulations by order
        1. as to the manner in which a request under this section is to be made,
        2. the form by which an employee may lodge an objection to data being shared,
        3. what is reasonably practical, and
        4. the steps to be taken to preserve the anonymity of the data.

39. Trade union consultation

    1. The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 is amended in accordance with paragraph (2).
    2. After section 198B insert –

       “Chapter IIA Artificial Intelligence Systems

       198C Duty to consult representatives

       1. Where an employer is proposing to do high-risk decision-making, it shall consult all the persons who are appropriate representatives of any of the employees who may be affected.
       2. The consultation shall begin in good time and in any event at least 1 month before the high-risk decision-making takes place.
       3. Once high-risk decision-making starts, the consultation in subsection (2) must be repeated every 12 months for as long as decision-making continues.
       4. For the purposes of this section the appropriate representatives of any affected employees are –
          1. if the employees are of a description in respect of which an independent trade union is recognized by their employer, representatives of the trade union, or
          2. in any other case, whichever of the following employee representatives the employer chooses –
             1. employee representatives appointed or elected by the affected employees otherwise than for the purposes of this section, who (having regard to the purposes for and the method by which they were appointed or elected) have authority from those employees to receive information and to be consulted about the high-risk decision-making on their behalf;
             2. employee representatives elected by the affected employees, for the purposes of this section, in an election satisfying the requirements of section 198D(1).
       5. The consultation shall include consultation about —
          1. the risks to the rights of employees contained in the Equality Act 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998, Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the Equality Act 2010, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the UK General Data Protection Regulation,
          2. the measures envisaged to address the risks,
          3. In this Act, the concerns and interests of workers and employees, include all legitimate concerns and interests, including –
             1. Understanding and minimizing the deployment of detrimental high-risk artificial intelligence systems,
             2. The impact or potential impact of artificial intelligence systems upon workers and employees in relation to their well- being,  and
             3. The potential for any diminution or other adverse effect on the degree of human connection with their employer.

          and shall be undertaken by the employer with a view to reaching agreement with the appropriate representatives,

       6. For the purposes of the consultation the employer shall disclose in writing to the appropriate representatives—
          1. A description of the proposed artificial intelligence system,
          2. A description of the relevant value chain,
          3. The date from which it is proposed that the system will be used in high-risk decision-making,
          4. The categories of high-risk decision which it is proposed the system will take or contribute to,
          5. The proposed purpose or aim in using the system,
          6. The logic which will underpin the proposed decision-making,
          7. The proposed data that will be processed by the system in relation to high-risk decision-making,
          8. The way in which the personal data of employees, workers or jobseekers will influence the proposed decisions,
          9. A description of how it is proposed to monitor the artificial intelligence system for accuracy, including how that metric will be defined, when high-risk decision-making takes place,
          10. A description of how it is proposed to monitor the artificial intelligence system for the risks to worker, employee or jobseeker rights contained in the Equality Act 2010, Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the UK General Data Protection Regulation,
          11. An assessment of the risks to worker, employee or jobseeker rights contained in the Equality Act 2010, Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the UK General Data Protection Regulation,
          12. The measures to be taken with a view to eliminating the risks, and
          13. A copy of the register created pursuant to s 16 in this Act.
       7. That information shall be given to each of the appropriate representatives by being delivered to them or sent by post to an address notified by them to the employer, or (in the case of representatives of a trade union) sent by post to the union at the address of its head or main office.
       8. The employer shall allow the appropriate representatives access to the affected employees and shall afford to those representatives such accommodation and other facilities as may be appropriate.
       9. If in any case there are special circumstances which render it not reasonably practicable for the employer to comply with a requirement of subsection (2), (3), (4) or (5), the employer shall take all such steps towards compliance with that requirement as are reasonably practicable in those circumstances.
       10. Where-
           1. the employer has invited any of the affected employees to elect employee representatives, and
           2. the invitation was issued long enough before the time when the consultation is required by subsection (2) to begin to allow them to elect representatives by that time,

           the employer shall be treated as complying with the requirements of this section in relation to those employees if he complies with those requirements as soon as is reasonably practicable after the election of the representatives.

       11. If, after the employer has invited affected employees to elect representatives, the affected employees fail to do so within a reasonable time, he shall give to each affected employee the information set out in subsection (5).
       12. This section does not confer any rights on a trade union, a representative or an employee except as provided by this Act.

198D Election of representatives

1. The requirements for the election of employee representatives under section 198C(3)(b)(ii) are that–
   1. the employer shall make such arrangements as are reasonably practical to ensure that the election is fair;
   2. the employer shall determine the number of representatives to be elected so that there are sufficient representatives to represent the interests of all the affected employees having regard to the number and classes of those employees;
   3. the employer shall determine whether the affected employees should be represented either by representatives of all the affected employees or by representatives of particular classes of those employees;
   4. before the election the employer shall determine the term of office as employee representatives so that it is of sufficient length to enable information to be given and consultations under section 198C to be completed;
   5. the candidates for election as employee representatives are affected employees on the date of the election;
   6. no affected employee is unreasonably excluded from standing for election;
   7. all affected employees on the date of the election are entitled to vote for employee representatives;
   8. the employees entitled to vote may vote for as many candidates as there are representatives to be elected to represent them or, if there are to be representatives for particular classes of employees, may vote for as many candidates as there are representatives to be elected to represent their particular class of employee;
   9. the election is conducted so as to secure that –
      1. so far as is reasonably practicable, those voting do so in secret, and
      2. the votes given at the election are accurately counted.
2. Where, after an election of employee representatives satisfying the requirements of subsection (1) has been held, one of those elected ceases to act as an employee representative and any of those employees are no longer represented, they shall elect another representative by an election satisfying the requirements of subsection (1)(a), (e), (f) and (i).

198D Complaint and compensation

1. Where an employer has failed to comply with a requirement of section 198A or section 198B, a complaint may be presented to an employment tribunal on that ground–
   1. in the case of a failure relating to the election of employee representatives, by any of the affected employees;
   2. in the case of any other failure relating to employee representatives, by any of the employee representatives to whom the failure related,
   3. in the case of failure relating to representatives of a trade union, by the trade union, and
   4. in any other case, by any of the affected employees.
2. If on a complaint under subsection (1) a question arises as to whether or not any employee representative was an appropriate representative for the purposes of section 198A, it shall be for the employer to show that the employee representative had the authority to represent the affected employees.
3. On a complaint under subsection (1)(a) it shall be for the employer to show that the requirements in section 198B have been satisfied.
4. If the tribunal finds the complaint well-founded it shall make a declaration to that effect and may also make an award of compensation to any affected employee to be paid by the employer.
5. The amount of compensation under subsection (4) shall be such as the employment tribunal considers just and equitable in all the circumstances having regard to the infringement to which the complaint relates but shall not exceed a maximum sum of £xx.

1. The Secretary of State shall make regulations by order to set the initial maximum compensation and for a mechanism to update the maximum sum in subsection (5) on annual basis after consultation with such employer and employee organisations as he considers appropriate.

6. An employment tribunal may not consider a complaint under this section after the end of –
   1. the period of 6 months beginning with the date of the failure to which the complaint relates,
   2. such other period as the employment tribunal considers just and equitable.
7. Where the complaint concerns a failure to comply with a requirement of section 198A or 198B, section 292A (extension of time limits to facilitate conciliation before institution of proceedings) applies for the purposes of subsection (6)(a).
8. For the purposes of subsection (6), in deciding what is just and equitable, the employment tribunal shall take into account-
   1. any steps taken by a trade union or an employee to attempt to persuade an employer to comply with sections 198A and 198B without recourse to litigation, and
   2. the extent to which the employer’s failure was observable and transparent.
9. If on a complaint under this section a question arises—
   1. whether there were special circumstances which rendered it not reasonably practicable for the employer to comply with any requirement of section 198A, or
   2. whether he took all such steps towards compliance with that requirement as were reasonably practicable in those circumstances, it is for the employer to show that there were and that he did.

198D Definitions

1. In this Chapter, “Artificial intelligence system” has the same meaning as section in the Artificial Intelligence (Regulations and Employment Rights) Act 2024.
2. The terms “artificial intelligence value chain”, “high-risk”, “decision- making”, “data” and “processing” have the same meaning as sections 4 to 8 in the Artificial Intelligence (Regulations and Employment Rights) Act 2024 when used in relation to artificial intelligence systems.”