Federica Palmirotta

Progetto di ricerca
Legal strategies to tackle the discrimination risk in algorithmic human resource management

The doctoral thesis aims at identifying legal measures and strategies suitable for contrasting the discriminatory drifts of algorithmic management systems within labour law, both de iure condito and de iure condendo, as well as for developing inclusive Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, in the attempt to create a guidance to tackle algorithmic discriminations on an interdisciplinary basis, as well as to support innovation and make it more socially sustainable.

After offering an overview on the application of AI in the HRM, thanks to a literature review with the interplay of organisational and labour theories, aimed at identifying different structures and, thus, different practices in which discriminations might be hidden, and at diversifying protection strategies (Chapter 1), the project suggests a dual and parallel approach which moves from a remedial perspective inspired by the litigation strategies recently adopted by trade unions in the Italian case Deliveroo and, as a consequence, intends to highlight the promises and perils of antidiscrimination substantive and procedural law with regards to algorithmic discriminations, as it is the legal source applicable when a discriminatory treatment occurs (Chapter 2).

Considering the shortages of a solely remedial approach, more in particular, for a structural issue, like the one deriving from biased AI, this approach is, then, completed with a preventive and promotional strategy, concerning the investigation of the legal measures which have the potential to support the inclusiveness and eradicate structural discriminations, within and beyond antidiscrimination law (Chapter 3).

Pubblicazioni

• The role of litigation in shaping platform’ organizational models at the expense of workers, in Spinelli C., Senatori I. (a cura di), “Litigation (collective) strategies to protect gig workers’ rights: a comparative perspective”, Giappichelli, 2022, 53-59.
• Clausola di inscindibilità e azione di nullità del contratto collettivo, in RGL Giurisprudenza Online, in Rivista Giuridica del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale, 2, 2022.
• Discriminazione di genere: i profili sostanziali e processuali della tutela antidiscriminatoria nella recente giurisprudenza di merito, in RGL Giurisprudenza Online, in Rivista Giuridica del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale , 3, 2022.
• The transposition of Directive 2019/1158 in Italy: new work-life balance measures to tackle structural and cultural gender discrimination, in Blog Cooperante, 21 febbraio 2023, disponibile al link: https://cooperante.uni.lodz.pl/2023/02/21/the-transposition-of-directive-2019-1158-in-italy-new-work-life-balance-measures-to-tackle-structural-and-cultural-gender-discrimination/
• Sulla non imponibilità contributiva del premio di presenza, in RGL Giurisprudenza Online, in Rivista Giuridica del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale, 2, 2023.
• La mobilitazione degli organismi collettivi contro le discriminazioni nel management algoritmico, in Quaderno della rivistaDiritti Lavori Mercati, 15, 2023, 183-201.
• “United we stand, divided we fall”. A study on potential legal measures to fight algorithmic discrimination, in Hungarian Labour Law e-Journal , 2023, (in corso di pubblicazione).