Maryland Law on Facial Recognition in Job Interviews

Maryland enacted House Bill 1202 as Chapter 446 in 2020, adding Labor and Employment §3-717. The provision addresses an employer using a “facial recognition service” during an applicant’s interview to create a “facial template.” The statutory definition covers technology that analyzes facial features and is used for recognition or persistent tracking in still or video images. A system that merely records an interview is not automatically within that definition; the tool’s function and use matter. The employer may not use the covered service for template creation during the interview unless the applicant consents by signing a waiver. The waiver must state the applicant’s name, the date of the interview, that the applicant consents to use of facial recognition during the interview, and whether the applicant read the waiver. This is an informed-consent condition, not a blanket ban. The statute does not establish a general notice-and-consent regime for every employment algorithm, nor does it resolve separate privacy, discrimination or biometric laws that may apply. Operationally, organizations should map the interview workflow, determine whether any feature extracts a machine-interpretable facial pattern for recognition or tracking, and ensure the required waiver precedes use. Preserve the signed record and make the consent language understandable. Vendors should identify the feature’s purpose and data behavior so employers can classify it accurately. Maryland’s law is a useful example of a narrowly scoped safeguard: the trigger is a particular actor, context, technology function and purpose, with a specified consent mechanism.