Workday Loses Bid to Toss AI Discrimination Suit in California

A California US judge largely upheld discrimination claims against Workday Inc. stemming from allegations that its artificial intelligence-powered job screening tools unlawfully filter out applicants based on race, age, and disability.

Workday’s motion to dismiss a proposed class complaint was denied with respect the four plaintiffs’ California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act claim Monday by Judge Rita F. Lin of the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Lin did grant Workday’s motion to dismiss with respect to the quartet’s racial discrimination claim and direct employer claims tied to internal discrimination allegations.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2023 by lead plaintiff Derek Mobley, who alleged Workday’s screening tools discriminated against him because he is Black, over 40, and disabled. The suit has expanded to include the three additional named plaintiffs asserting claims under federal law and FEHA.

Lin then tentatively rejected Workday’s arguments that if it were held liable under FEHA would amount to the transformation of a California statute into a national employment law in May.

The district court Monday also allowed plaintiff Jill Hughes’s disability discrimination claim under the ADA to proceed, finding her allegations that Workday’s tools use proxy health indicators to screen out applicants were adequately pled.

But Lin dismissed plaintiff FaithLinh Rowe’s newly asserted race discrimination claim on behalf of Asian American applicants, ruling it was unauthorized and had not been previously included in earlier complaints.

Wiggins Childs Pantazis Fisher Goldfarb LLC, Winston Cooks LLC, and Greene Estate, Probate, and Elder Law Firm represent the plaintiffs. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP represents Workday.

The case is Mobley v. Workday Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 3:23-cv-00770, 6/22/26.