Effective November 8, 2026, New York employers of all sizes must provide current and former employees with access to their personnel records upon request and must notify employees whenever information is added to their personnel file which has the potential to negatively impact their employment. Directly modeled on the Massachusetts Personnel Records Law, the New York Employee Personnel Records Access Law applies to all public and private New York employers and bars retaliation against anyone who exercises their rights under this law.

New York employers should review their recordkeeping practices now to ensure compliance and reach out to their counsel if they have questions about how to bring their practices in line with the new standards.

What Records Are Covered

The law defines “personnel record” broadly to cover any record kept by an employer that identifies an employee, to the extent the record is used, has been used, or may be used relative to that employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, or disciplinary action.

The following list contains examples of types of personnel records that are explicitly enumerated by the statute. Note, however, that this is not an exhaustive list of all records which qualify as personnel records under the statute:

• The employee’s name, address, and date of birth
• Job title and description
• Rate of pay and any other compensation
• Starting date of employment
• Job applications and resumes
• All employee performance evaluations and evaluation documents
• Written warnings of substandard performance
• Lists of probationary periods
• Waivers signed by the employee
• Copies of dated termination notices
• Any other documents relating to disciplinary action

Importantly, the definition also extends to records in the possession of third parties that have a contractual agreement with the employer to keep or supply personnel records. For example, if your business uses an outsourced HR platform, payroll provider, or other vendor that maintains records meeting the statute’s definition of a personnel record, those records may be covered.

The law excludes information of a personal nature about a person other than the employee where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of that other person’s privacy. The statute also requires that personnel records be maintained in typewritten or printed form, or may be handwritten in permanent ink.

Employee Access Rights

Once the law takes effect, employers must provide a current or former employee with a complete copy of their personnel record, at no cost, within five (5) business days of receiving a written request.

Employers are not required to allow an employee to review their personnel record more than twice in one calendar year. However, a review triggered by the placement of negative information in the employee’s file (discussed below) does not count toward the review limit.

Former employees also have the right to inspect their personnel records. Employers must retain an employee’s complete personnel record from the date of hire until three years after the employee’s separation from employment, but they are not required to provide former employees with access after that three-year period. Nonetheless, employers should retain copies of all employee records for at least six years after separation in accordance with New York Labor Law § 195. Before deleting any records, employers should consult counsel to confirm their retention obligations.

Notice of Negative Information and Right to Respond

The law requires employers to notify an employee within ten (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, additional compensation, or the possibility of disciplinary action.

Once notified, the employee has the right to review and respond. If the employee disputes any information in the record, the employer and employee may mutually agree to correct or remove it. If they cannot reach agreement, the employee may submit a written statement explaining the employee’s position. That statement becomes a permanent part of the personnel record and must accompany the disputed information whenever it is transmitted to a third party, so long as the original information is retained in the file.

If an employer places information in a personnel record that it knew or should have known was false, the employee may seek expungement through their collective bargaining agreement (if applicable), other personnel procedures, or the judicial process.

Practical note: Formal disciplinary write-ups and performance improvement plans will clearly trigger the ten-day notice window, but the statute’s language is broad enough to potentially capture less formal entries, such as a supervisor’s notes from a coaching session, an internal memo about attendance concerns, or a mixed performance review, if the information could be used in connection with any of the employment decisions the statute covers. Reach out to your counsel if you have questions about the impact of this law on your organization’s specific practices.

Anti-Retaliation Protections

The law prohibits employers from discharging, threatening, penalizing, or in any other manner discriminating or retaliating against any employee who exercises their rights under the statute.

These protections sweep broadly and carry particular significance for employers in industries with diverse workforces. They expressly cover immigration-related threats, including threatening to contact or actually contacting U.S. immigration authorities, or reporting or threatening to report an employee’s suspected citizenship or immigration status, or that of the employee’s family or household members.

Written Personnel Policies

Employers who elect to maintain a written personnel policy regarding the terms and conditions of employment must keep that policy continuously available at the office or offices where personnel matters are administered. This is a standalone requirement. Employers should confirm that their employee handbooks and other written workplace policies are maintained and accessible at each location where HR decisions are made.

Enforcement and Penalties

Violations are punishable by fines ranging from $500 to $2,500. The statute provides that the New York State Attorney General shall enforce the law. The statute does not appear to create a broad private right of action for access or notice violations, though it does provide employees with an avenue to seek expungement of false information through personnel procedures, any applicable collective bargaining agreement, or the judicial process.

Collective Bargaining Agreements

The law does not supersede the terms of a collective bargaining agreement, provided that the agreement affords employees with at least substantially similar access to their personnel records as required by the statute.

Governor’s Signing Memo

In her signing memo, Governor Hochul acknowledged that the statute as enacted leaves open several practical questions, such as whether the law obligates employers to assemble a personnel file where none currently exists or to generate new documentation beyond existing records, and how narrowly or broadly the definition of covered records should be read. The Governor indicated she has reached an agreement with the State Legislature to address these concerns in the upcoming legislative session. Employers should monitor for any clarifying amendments.

Recommendations

Employers should take the following steps before the November 8, 2026, effective date:

• Audit existing personnel records, written personnel policies, and storage practices. Determine what records are currently maintained, where they reside (including with third-party vendors that keep or supply personnel records under contract), whether they align with the statute’s broad definition, and whether any written personnel policies are continuously maintained at the office or offices where personnel matters are administered.
• Establish a request-response protocol. Create a clear process for receiving, tracking, and fulfilling written employee requests within the five-business-day window. For businesses with multiple locations, designate a central point of contact for records requests.
• Develop a negative-information notice procedure. Build a workflow for identifying when information that may negatively affect an employee is added to a file, issuing the required ten-day notice, and receiving and filing any employee rebuttal statements.
• Review record retention practices. Ensure that complete personnel records are maintained from the date of hire through three years after separation, and confirm that any corrections, removals, or expungements are handled through procedures authorized by the statute.
• Train HR staff and managers. Educate personnel responsible for recordkeeping, performance reviews, and discipline about the new access, notice, retention, and anti-retaliation requirements. Managers who document performance issues or conduct conversations should understand that such records may now be subject to employee review.

For more information about the issues discussed above, contact Joshua Zuckerberg, Ilan Weiser, Vanessa P. Avello, Caitlin Breen, or Elizabeth Rivera.