NY Governor Signs Employee Personnel Records Access Law
On September 9, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill granting current and former New York employees the right to access their personnel records and requiring employers to notify employees when negative information is placed in their personnel records. The new law amends the New York State Labor Law and is scheduled to take effect on November 8, 2026.
As discussed in our previous alert, the law will require employers to:
provide employees and former employees with a copy of their personnel records within five business days of receiving a written request, permitting a given employee to review his or her records at least twice per calendar year,
notify employees within ten days when negative information is placed in their records that may affect employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, or disciplinary decisions (employees may also seek to review their personnel file after such notification, which will not count toward the two requests above), and
permit employees to submit a written statement in response to the inclusion of such negative information, which the employer must then include in the personnel record and provide any time the personnel record with the disputed information is transmitted to a third party.
As a reminder, the law broadly defines a covered “personnel record” as any record kept by an employer that identifies an employee if the record could affect the employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, or disciplinary action. In her approval memorandum, Governor Hochul sympathized with employers that the law contained “ambiguities that needed to be resolved . . . including clarifying that employers are not required to create a personnel file or produce new documents beyond the records they currently maintain.” The law, as drafted, includes a list of documents and information which the law states should be included in the personnel file. However, Governor Hochul’s approval memorandum notes that clarity is needed on the point that “personnel files only include records or documents used to determine an employee's qualifications for hiring, retention, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, or disciplinary action.” Therefore, it is unclear whether this list of documents and information will remain the same. Governor Hochul reached an agreement with the legislature to address these points, so employers should expect amendments to the law in the coming months.
This new legislation represents a significant change in employee access to personnel files in New York State. In the leadup to the November 8 effective date, employers should consider an audit of employee personnel files to assess their contents. Employers should also ensure a process is in place to provide files to employees upon their requests, and create procedures for notifying employees when covered, negative information is added to an employee’s personnel file. Employers should also begin thinking through developing internal processes and procedures for when to place an item in the employee’s personnel file, understanding that further clarity on what constitutes a personnel record may be forthcoming. Employers who maintain policies about access to personnel files should also amend those policies to bring them into compliance with these new employee access rights.
Employers with questions about the law or updating their personnel record practices and policies to comply with the new law should contact Kristina Grimshaw at kgrimshaw@fglawllc.com or Jack Culhane at jculhane@fglawllc.com any other attorney at the Firm.
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