Using Artificial Intelligence in the Performance Evaluation of Local Government Employees

Purpose: This article examines the legal and governance implications of AI-assisted employee performance evaluation in Czech local government. It focuses on how such systems interact with labour law, administrative law principles, data protection requirements, anti-discrimination norms, and the emerging EU framework for high-risk AI systems.Design/Methodology/Approach: The article combines a structured literature review with doctrinal legal analysis and a limited comparative approach. Although interdisciplinary, its primary analytical focus remains legal and regulatory. It examines AI-assisted evaluation tools that process employee-related data to generate classifications, scores, recommendations, or summaries that may support managerial assessments of employee performance.Findings: The analysis shows that Czech law does not expressly regulate AI-assisted employee performance evaluation in local government, which creates uncertainty regarding transparency, accountability, lawful data use, human oversight, and remedies. It further shows that some employee-evaluation systems may fall within the high-risk employment category under the AI Act, in which case enhanced obligations concerning governance, documentation, transparency, and oversight would apply.Practical Implications: Local authorities considering the use of AI-assisted evaluation tools should adopt clear internal rules on permissible data sources, purpose limitation, documentation, explainability, human review, and complaint handling. The article identifies practical safeguards that may reduce legal and organisational risk while preserving AI’s role in supporting, rather than replacing, human judgement in personnel assessment.Academic Contribution to the Field: The article contributes to the literatureby connecting debates on algorithmic management, public administration, and AI regulation to the specific setting of employee evaluation in local government. It also extends existing scholarship by analysing this issue through the combined lens of Czech law and EU high-risk AI regulation.Originality/Value: The article offers a legal analysis of AI-assisted employee evaluation in Czech local government and clarifies the distinction between AI outputs that support human judgement and de facto automated decision-making in employment-related contexts.