THE WHAT? Estée Lauder has settled a lawsuit brought against it by three former staff after the company used an automated process to fire them, according to City A.M. 

THE DETAILS The cosmetics giant used the automated software to tell the make-up artists they had lost their jobs, and that they had to reapply for their posts. 

The software, made by recruitment company HireVue, informed the staff members they were being made redundant, a decision made partly by the results of an automated judgement by the computer. 

Talking to the BBC, the women stated there was no explanation as to why they had failed the process and lost their jobs. 

One woman stated, “I literally thought we would be videoed and someone would mark it after. I found out that wasn’t the case. Nobody saw the video, it was all algorithms.” 

THE WHY? An Estée Lauder spokesperson released a statement to City A.M., that read, “M·A·C UK & Ireland ’s vision is to be the most inclusive and diverse beauty brand in the world, and to be the employer of choice for diverse talent. We endeavour to treat our employees and candidates with dignity and respect at all times. The company takes significant steps to counter unconscious bias in all our employment-related decisions. In the situation described, facial recognition accounted for well under 1% (0.25%) of employees’ overall assessment.

“The company has teams who overlay objective performance-related data and other qualitative feedback, which accounted for the majority of the employment assessment, to make decisions on employment. Thus, any suggestion that facial recognition technology played a decisive role in any employment-related decision at M·A·C UK & Ireland or the Estée Lauder Companies UK & Ireland is patently false.”