Here at the Law Office of Vincent Miletti, Esq. and the home of the #UnusuallyMotivated movement, we take pride as a resilient and dependable legal services firm, providing such services in both a traditional and online, web-based environment. With mastered specialization in areas such as Employment and Labor Law, Intellectual Property (IP) (trademark, copyright, patent), Entertainment Law, and e-Commerce (Supply Chain, Distribution, Fulfillment, Standard Legal & Regulatory), we provide a range of legal services including, but not limited to traditional legal representation (litigation, mediation, arbitration, opinion letters, and advisory), non-litigated business legal representation and legal counsel, and unique, online legal services such as smart forms, mobile training, legal marketing, and development.

Still, here at Miletti Law®, we feel obligated to enlighten, educate, and create awareness, free of charge, about how these issues and many others affect our unusually motivated® readers and/or their businesses. Accordingly, to achieve this goal, we have committed ourselves to creating authoritative, trustworthy, & distinctive content. Usually, this content is featured as videos posted on our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtvUryqkkMAJLwrLu2BBt6w and blogs that are published on our website WWW.MILETTILAW.COM. With that, the ball is in your court and you have an effortless obligation to subscribe to the channel and sign up for the Newsletter on the website, which encompasses the best way to ensure that you stay in the loop and feel the positive impact of the knowledge bombs that we drop here!

As the authoritative force in Employment Law, it only seemed right to introduce one of the many upcoming series in which we introduce a variety of topics that looks to educate and deliver in a manner that only Miletti Law® can. To that end, this blog is Part XX of our ongoing series on “Life Sciences Industry Guide for Labor and Employment,” in which we review the basics and issues of concern to employers engaged within the life sciences industry. In Part XIX of the series and our blog titled “Key Employment Policies for Employers in the Life Sciences,” we hammered on some of the key employment policies that employers within the life sciences industry employers should implement. Regarding these policies, we mentioned that every employer should, in addition to severance policies, policies on the protection and confidentiality of proprietary information, (Equal Employment Opportunity) EEO policies, and whistleblower policies, create and implement other policies. Additional policies include, but are not limited to, (1) social media, (2) leave of absence, time-off, and attendance, (3) an anti-harassment policy (also known as the Faragher-Ellerth, and (4) inventions/shop rights assignment agreement.

As a continuation of this discussion, we have shifted gears and hammered on two of the most significant regulatory trends within the life sciences industry in our blog titled “Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Big Data Within the Life Sciences” and part XX of this series.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Big Data Within the Life Sciences

The Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The use of AI (artificial intelligence) in the life sciences industry has grown exponentially. While AI is increasingly being used to drive various processes and activities, AI software that could be used to read and interpret body language and facial expressions in the screening and hiring context has been proposed and is currently under scrutiny. This underscores the need for awareness regarding the issues of concern that arise when using AI in the workplace.

Furthermore, through elaborate and complex data and analytics, AI could also be used in the identification of ideal candidates. However, employers may expose themselves to discrimination allegations for using such technology on candidates. Elsewhere, there has been a public outcry concerning the use of wearable AI technology to monitor and control employee efficiency, locations, and other data points. In fact, many states are currently enacting privacy laws to regulate and control the use of AI-enabled wearable technology and other AI applications that may be applied in monitoring employees.

The Use of Big Data and Concerns about Privacy

As another significant regulatory trend, one of the most invaluable tools for organizations in the life sciences is Big Data. Today, analytics and experts are using Big Data to drive remarkable developments and changes across the life sciences industry. For instance, analytics across the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector are using Big Data in predicting issues such as the probability of hospital readmission, life expectancies, and genetic predispositions to particular conditions and illnesses. These applications include, but are not limited to, the advancement of new methods of treatment and the development of devices and drugs within the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector. Again, this underscores the need for employers within the life sciences to proactively involve themselves in understanding and knowing federal and state regulatory trends concerning the use of Big Data and the privacy concerns that come with using such technology.

In Part XXI of this series and our blog titled “FDA on Plant Closings & Marijuana Regulation in Life Sciences,” we shall move the discussion forward by hammering on “FDA on Plant Closing” and “Marijuana Regulation,” which comprise another two significant regulatory trends that employers within the life sciences industry should be aware of and conversant with.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more legal guidance, training, and education. In the interim, if there are any questions or comments, please let us know at the Contact Us page!

Always rising above the bar,

Isaac T.,

Legal Writer & Author.