On 9 September 2026, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed S.3460 into law, adding a new Section 210-b to the New York Labor Law. Section 210-b takes effect on 8 November 2026.
Modelled on Massachusetts’ Personnel Record Law, the new law gives current and former employees a first-time statutory right to access, and in some circumstances dispute, the contents of their personnel files.
Pursuant to an agreement cited by Governor Hochul in her approval memorandum, the New York State Legislature is expected to make changes to the new law during its next session to clean up certain ambiguities.
In this article, we explain the new employee rights to access and challenge information in their personnel files and, with only a short amount of time until the new law takes effect, the practical steps employers should take to prepare.
New York had not previously granted a general statutory right for private-sector employees to inspect their own personnel files; historically, personnel records were treated as exclusively the employer’s property.
Section 210-b brings New York in line with many other states, including Massachusetts’ similar personnel file law, allowing employees regular access to these files.
Section 210-b applies broadly. ‘Employer’ is defined to include any individual, corporation, partnership, labour organisation, unincorporated association, or other legal business, including governmental and public employers as well as agents of an employer, with no exemption based on employer size. ‘Employee’ includes both current and former employees.
The new law defines a ‘personnel record’ as a record kept by an employer that identifies an employee, to the extent the record is used, has been used, or may affect or be used relative to that employee’s qualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation, or disciplinary action. The definition expressly reaches records held by a third party under contract with the employer to keep or supply a personnel record, meaning that outsourced payroll or HR vendor records, not just files an employer keeps in-house, are within the law’s scope.
The new law also sets out specific categories of information and documents that, if prepared by the employer, must be included in an employee’s personnel record. These include:
The new law also contains a privacy carve-out: a personnel record does not include information of a personal nature about someone other than the employee if disclosing it would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of that other person’s privacy. For example, where an investigation file or witness statement references a co-worker, that information is not within the definition of a ‘personnel record.’
Upon a written request, an employer must provide a copy of the employee’s personnel record, at no cost, within five business days.
An employer is not required to allow an employee to review the record on more than two occasions per calendar year.
Notably, a review triggered by the employer’s own notice of negative information does not count toward that twice-annual cap, so employees can separately access their file following a negative-information notice without using up their statutory allotment.
An employer must notify an employee within 10 days of placing information in the employee’s personnel record that:
If the employee disagrees with information in the record, removal or correction may be resolved by mutual agreement.
Absent such agreement, the employee may submit a written statement explaining their position, which becomes part of the personnel record and must be included whenever that information is transmitted to a third party, so long as the original information is also retained.
Separately, if the employer placed information in the record that it knew or should have known was false, the employee has a remedy to have that information expunged (that is, officially removed or erased) through a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), other personnel procedures, or a judicial proceeding.
Employers must retain a complete personnel record, without deletions or expungement, from an employee’s date of hire through three years after termination of employment. If an employer maintains a written personnel policy governing the terms and conditions of employment, that policy (as amended from time to time) must be continuously kept on file at the office where personnel matters are administered.
Section 210-b does not supersede the terms of a CBA, provided that the CBA affords employees substantially similar access to their personnel records as the new law itself provides. Employers with unionised workforces should compare existing CBA access provisions against the minimum requirements of the new law to confirm compliance.
Any violation of Section 210-b is punishable by a fine of at least USD 500 and up to USD 2,500, enforced by the New York Attorney General.
The new law separately prohibits an employer or any other person from discharging, threatening, penalising, or otherwise discriminating or retaliating against an employee for exercising rights under the section.
Because a written rebuttal (i.e. a written statement from the employee explaining why they disagree with information in their personnel record) becomes part of the personnel record and must travel with it whenever the record is transmitted to a third party, employers should anticipate rebuttal statements to surface later in litigation, arbitration, and unemployment or workers’ compensation proceedings. This includes, potentially, in matters unrelated to the issue the employee originally disputed.
Employers may want to consider documenting their own factual response to a rebuttal at the time it is submitted, rather than relying on the passage of time or institutional memory, so the record does not read as one-sided if it resurfaces in a later dispute.
With little time remaining before the new law takes effect on 8 November 2026, employers should consider prioritising the following steps:
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