New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation giving private and public sector employees the right to access and dispute their own personnel records.
The law, known as S3460, takes effect on November 8, 2026, exactly 60 days after Hochul signed the bill on September 9.
New York State previously had no legislation regulating personnel files or requiring employers to disclose them to current or former employees.
The new law is expressly modelled on Massachusetts’s Personnel Record Law and represents a significant shift in how employers must manage employee documentation.
S3460 adds a new Section 210-b to the New York Labor Law, creating a series of obligations for employers across both the private and public sectors.
Employers must notify an employee within 10 days of placing in their personnel record “any information to the extent that the information is, has been used or may be used, to negatively affect the employee’s qualification for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation or the possibility that the employee will be subject to disciplinary action.”
Employers are also required to provide employees with a copy of their personnel record at no cost within five business days of a written request.
Workers may review their personnel records on up to two occasions per calendar year, though this limit does not apply to requests related to negative information being placed on file.
The definition of a personnel record is broad, extending beyond a single folder held by HR to include records held by third-party vendors with a contractual agreement to keep or supply such information.
The statute notes that personnel records do “not include information of a personal nature about a person other than the employee if disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of [that] other person’s privacy.”
Because the law defines “employee” as “a person currently employed or formerly employed by an employer,” both current and former workers are entitled to make personnel record requests.
If an employee disputes information held in their record, both parties may agree to correct or remove it, but if no agreement is reached, the employee may submit a written statement that must be made part of the record.
The bill also includes mechanisms for seeking expungement of information the employer knew or should have known was false, alongside protections against retaliation for employees exercising their rights.
The law does not override collective bargaining agreements, provided those agreements offer at least substantially similar access to personnel records as required by the new legislation.
Violations carry fines ranging from $500 to $2,500, enforced by New York’s attorney general, with an express anti-retaliation provision built into the statute.