New York Employers Must Prepare Now: New Personnel Records Access Law Takes Effect November 8, 2026

New York has enacted a new law, New York Labor Law Section 210-b (Access to Personnel Records), that gives current and former employees the right to obtain copies of their personnel records and imposes new notice, retention, and anti-retaliation obligations on employers. The law takes effect November 8, 2026. Every employer with New York employees should put compliant procedures in place before that date.

Who and What the Law Covers

Covered employers. The law applies broadly. Covered employers include individuals, corporations, partnerships, labor organizations, unincorporated associations, any other legal business or commercial entity, governmental and public employers, and the agents of any such employer.

Covered employees. Both current and former employees have rights under the law.

Personnel records. A personnel record is any record identifying an employee that is used, has been used, or may be used in connection with that employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, or disciplinary action. This includes records held on the employer’s behalf by third-party vendors under contract, such as payroll providers and providers of applicant-tracking and HR information systems.

Covered employee records include:

Name, address, and date of birth
Job title and description
Rate of pay and other compensation paid to the employee
Employee’s start date
Job applications, resumes, and other employment inquiries
Performance evaluations (including but not limited to, employee evaluation documents)
Written warnings of substandard performance
Lists of probationary periods
Signed waivers
Dated termination notices
Any other documents relating to disciplinary action regarding the employee

Important exclusion. A personnel record does not include information of a personal nature about someone other than the requesting employee where disclosure would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of that other person’s privacy.

Four Key Requirements

Deadline / Limit	Requirement
5 business days	An employer must provide an employee with a copy of the employee’s personnel record, at no cost to the employee, within 5 business days of the employer’s receipt of the employee’s written request.
10 days	An employer must notify an employee within 10 days of placing in the employee’s personnel record any information that is used, has been used, or may be used to negatively affect the employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, or additional compensation, or the possibility that the employee will be subject to disciplinary action.
2 reviews per calendar year	An employer is not required to allow an employee to review the employee’s personnel record on more than 2 separate occasions in a calendar year. A review prompted by the employer’s placement of negative information in the record does not count toward this limit.
3 years	An employer must retain personnel records for 3 years after employment ends (or any longer period required by law or a litigation hold).

Additional Employer Obligations

Written policies. If an employer maintains a written personnel policy on the terms and conditions of employment, it must be kept on hand at the office where personnel matters are administered.

Disputes and rebuttals. If an employee disagrees with any information contained in the employee’s personnel record, the employer and the employee may mutually agree to remove or correct the information. If they do not reach an agreement, the employee may submit a written statement explaining the employee’s position, which must be included in and become part of the employee’s personnel record. The statement must be included whenever the disputed information is transmitted to a third party, as long as the original information remains in the file. If an employer places any information in a personnel record that the employer knew or should have known was false, the employee may seek to have the information expunged through the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), other personnel procedures, or judicial process. The law does not prohibit the removal of information contained in a personnel record, for any reason, upon mutual agreement of the employer and employee.

No deletion during the retention period. The law requires employers to retain the complete personnel record of each employee, without deletions or expungement of information, from the start of employment until three years after employment ends. The only exceptions are the routes described above: (1) removal or correction by mutual agreement of the employer and employee, and (2) expungement, through the CBA, other personnel procedures, or judicial process, of information the employer knew or should have known was false.

Collective bargaining agreements. The law does not override a CBA that provides substantially similar access to personnel records.

Enforcement and Anti-Retaliation

Violations carry fines of $500 to $2,500 per violation, enforced by the New York Attorney General. The law imposes these fines on an employer “or any other person,” so individual managers, agents, or others responsible for a violation may be exposed, not only the employing entity.

Employers may not discharge, threaten, penalize, or otherwise retaliate against an employee for exercising these rights. The protection expressly includes threats to contact immigration authorities about an employee or a member of the employee’s family or household.

Anticipated 2027 Amendments

When signing the bill, Governor Kathy Hochul noted that certain ambiguities remain and that an agreement was reached to address them in a chapter amendment during the legislative session beginning in early 2027. It is anticipated that these clarifications may:

Confirm that employers are not required to create new personnel records or produce documents beyond what they normally maintain; and
Narrow the definition of personnel records to records used to determine an employee’s qualifications for hiring, retention, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, or disciplinary action.

Until these amendments are enacted, however, employers should comply with the law as currently written.

Recommended Actions Before November 8, 2026

Audit and segregate personnel files. Identify which existing records fall within the personnel-record definition and would be produced on request, and separate out material that should not be in the main file (for example, information about other individuals).
Implement a request-handling procedure. Establish a procedure for responding to written requests for personnel records within five business days.
Train HR professionals. Ensure HR is aware of the requirements under the law, including the obligation to notify employees of the placement of negative information in the personnel record.
Review retention schedules. Confirm that record retention schedules comply with the law.
Review vendor contracts. Confirm any vendor holding personnel records can supply the records as necessary to comply with the law.
Educate supervisors. Advise supervisors that employees may review their personnel records, and review with supervisors best practices for creating documents, including disciplinary action notices, to be placed in personnel files.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions regarding the law or need assistance in drafting your personnel records policies, updating your practices, or training your HR team and supervisors on the law’s requirements.