NJ labor, lawmakers push bill to limit AI surveillance and stop bots from hiring and firing workers alone

TRENTON — New Jersey labor leaders and lawmakers launched a push Thursday for statewide rules on workplace artificial intelligence, urging passage of the FAIR Act before automated systems further reshape how employees are watched, scored, and managed on the job.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO joined lead sponsors Sen. Andrew Zwicker and Assemblymember Heather Simmons, co-prime sponsor Sen. Shirley Turner, Stockton University professor and labor leader Emari DiGiorgio, and workers at the State House to back S-4075 / A-4981 — the Fair AI Regulations bill, known as the FAIR Act.

Supporters cast the measure as ground rules, not a ban: protections against invasive surveillance, discrimination, and dangerous productivity quotas; transparency and human oversight of automated employment decisions; limits on how workers’ personal data can be used; and a path to challenge decisions when automated systems get it wrong.

“We know that this new technology holds incredible promise, with the potential to make workplaces more efficient and more productive. But we also know that without oversight, AI comes with tremendous risks to working people – to our jobs, our privacy, our safety, and our basic rights,” said Charles Wowkanech, president of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, which represents about 1 million union members. “The time is now to protect workers from the harms of unregulated AI, and to ensure that the AI economy works for the working people in our state, not just the tech billionaires in Silicon Valley.”

The coalition pointed to polling and workplace trends as the backdrop. Nearly half of employed New Jerseyans already use AI at work, organizers said, and recent Gallup polling found nearly a third of U.S. workers now worry technology could make their jobs obsolete — a record high and a seven-point jump from a year earlier.

“The decisions we make now will shape how AI is used in New Jersey workplaces for years to come,” Zwicker said. “We shouldn’t wait until after workers are harmed to decide what the ground rules are. The FAIR Act is an opportunity to set clear standards now and make sure workers have a say in how new technology impacts their jobs.”

Under the bill’s framework, supporters say it would:

• Protect workers against AI-driven surveillance
• Bar AI-based discrimination
• Guard against dangerous productivity quotas
• Require transparency when AI systems are used
• Keep humans responsible for major decisions such as hiring and firing
• Safeguard workers’ personal information
• Give public workers a voice when AI threatens jobs

The package already has 15 Assembly co-sponsors and eight in the Senate, according to the State AFL-CIO. The bill was introduced in May 2026 and is expected to go before the Senate Labor Committee in early October.

Earlier this month, the State AFL-CIO also announced an AI workforce training initiative with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Rowan University — pairing the legislative push with skills training.

“Protecting workers in the age of AI cannot just be about writing rules. We also have to make sure workers have the knowledge and skills to understand this technology, use it, and have a voice in how it changes their jobs,” Simmons said. “These efforts are about putting workers at the table as AI transforms the workplace, not leaving them to figure it out after the technology has already changed the rules.”