BILL NUMBER: S99A
SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to employee access to person-
nel records
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To ensure all laborers in the state have a fair opportunity to review
their personnel records and are notified when a negative report is filed
against them
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of this bill adds a new section 210-b to the Labor Law to
provide all private and public sector employees with access to their
personnel records.
Section two of this bill sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill, modeled after Massachusetts' Personnel Record Law, would
allow employees a fair opportunity to access their personnel records at
least twice per year at all worksites in New York State. Employers would
need to furnish records within five business days of receiving a written
request from an employee and notify employees when negative information
affecting qualification for employment, promotion, transfer, additional
compensation, or the possibility that an employee will be subject to
disciplinary action is filed against them. Employees would also be able
to submit a written statement into their personnel file if they disagree
with its content, and to pursue an action for injunctive relief to
remove false information. The Attorney General could bring an action, at
their discretion, against violators of the bill and subject them to a
fine between $500 and $2,500. Individual employees who face illegal
discrimination or retaliation for exercising their rights under the
statute may also bring a claim.
This bill seeks to emulate Massachusetts in recognizing the basic right
of employees to know what kind of reports are being officially filed
about them and how this will impact their future employment prospects.
It aims to inspire an open and transparent dialogue between employees
and their supervisors while providing some recourse for employees to
remove knowingly false or defamatory statements from their records. In
providing a state right of action, this bill will also deter retaliatory
use of personnel records to, for example, discredit or undermine employ-
ees who may later come into conflict with their employers. The legisla-
ture must work to safeguard basic labor rights while ensuring that
personnel records are utilized only for their original and intended
purpose: as a tool to track and improve employee performance and not a
weapon to discredit current or former employees in the court of public
opinion.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023: S99 - Passed Senate
2022: S6502A - Referred to Labor
2021: S6502 - Referred to Labor
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.