Acas Turns to AI To Tackle Rising Workplace Disputes - 1

Image by Adam Rutkowski, from Unsplash

Acas Turns to AI To Tackle Rising Workplace Disputes

  • Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

Acas, the UK state-funded conciliation body, is planning to use AI to handle workplace disputes, which are expected to surge as new employment rights take effect.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • CEO Niall Mackenzie fears workload surge from new employment rights bill.
  • Mackenzie suggested future AI rulings, but stressed funding and development time.
  • Acas currently resolves over 70% of disputes before tribunals.

Acas chief executive Niall Mackenzie declared that the organization needs to explore innovative solutions to address its rising workload. “My main fear [over the impact of the employment rights bill] is the quantity of work,” he told the Financial Times .

“We want to make sure our service remains as good despite the increase. That’s where use of technology, we hope, will help, with AI tools to help our staff,” he added.

Mackenzie even floated the idea of automated rulings. “Wouldn’t it be lovely if the two parties [in a dispute] could submit their claims against each other in writing and the machine made the decision?” he said.

But he added that such “blue sky” ideas would require government funding and at least three to four years of development to ensure reliability.

For now, Acas is taking “baby steps” with IT upgrades and AI tools to help staff manage more calls. The Financial Times notes that these changes come as ministers push extensive parliamentary reforms, including controversial measures such as day one protection against unfair dismissal.

Acas successfully resolves more than 70% of individual disputes before tribunal proceedings and settles 90% of collective disputes. The organization needs to sustain its current case resolution success rate while reducing the average cost of resolving cases by 20%. “The main driver of cost reduction will be technology,” Mackenzie said to the Financial Times.

Acas has experienced a continuous increase in dispute cases since the pandemic started, with 35,000 cases in 2020-21 reaching 43,000 cases in 2024-25. The Financial Times says that the combination of rising layoffs and discrimination cases, as well as prolonged tribunal delays, creates mounting pressure on the conciliation body.

However, relying heavily on AI tools could undermine trust in Acas’s role as a mediator. Automated rulings have the negative potential to oversimplify complex, sensitive disputes, which may require human judgment and empathy.

Technology-driven cost reduction could also pressure staff to prioritize speed over quality. If workers or employers perceive the process as impersonal or biased, it could also damage Acas’s credibility and discourage parties from engaging with its services.

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Pushes For Digital ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ - 2

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Pushes For Digital ‘Right To Be Forgotten’

  • Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

Canada’s Privacy Commissioner says people have the right, in some cases, to have personal information removed from online search results, however Google is refusing to comply.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • The case involves a dropped criminal charge still showing in Google search results.
  • The commissioner ruled Google violated Canada’s privacy law, PIPEDA, by refusing de-listing.
  • Google argues de-listing should be balanced with freedom of expression and information rights.

The case revolves around an individual who faced a criminal accusation, which eventually got dismissed. Despite this, the articles surrounding his charges continue to appear whenever the person’s name is searched on Google.

The individual argued that this has caused them serious harm, including “physical assault, lost employment opportunities, and severe social stigma,” according to a news release by The Privacy Commissioner published on Wednesday.

The release reports that Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne conducted an investigation of the complaint, stating that Google violated the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), a federal privacy law.

The Privacy Commissioner ordered Google to remove the articles from search results so users could no longer find them through name-based searches. However, the articles would still remain online and could be found in other ways.

“Individuals have the right, under Canadian privacy law, to have information about them de-listed from online searches for their name in certain circumstances when there is a significant risk of harm that outweighs the public interest in that information remaining accessible through such a search,” said Dufresne.

The Commissioner stressed that this right applies only in “limited circumstances,” such as when the information is outdated, inaccurate, relates to minors, or poses risks to dignity and safety. His office noted that it is considering “all available options to secure Google’s compliance with the act.”

Google, however, has pushed back. A spokesperson said to CBC that the company is reviewing the report but is “strongly of the view that consideration of a so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ must be appropriately balanced with the freedom of expression and access to information rights of Canadians, the news media and other publishers, and therefore should be determined and defined by the courts.”

The battle over whether Canadians have a digital “right to be forgotten” has been ongoing since the original complaint was filed in 2017. Courts have repeatedly ruled that Google’s search engine is covered by privacy law, but the company still refuses to enforce the Commissioner’s recommendation.