BILL NUMBER: S185
SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to restricting the use of
electronic monitoring and automated employment decision tools
 
PURPOSE:
To regulate the use of automated decision tools in employment
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds a new section article 36 to the labor law entitled Bound-
aries on Technology Act.
New section 1010 of article 36 defines terms. New section 1011 of arti-
cle 36 establishes that no employer with over one hundred employees may
use automated employment decision tools for employment decisions unless
and until they have been subject to impact assessments. Standards for
impact assessments and required responses to findings of disparate
impact are detailed and employers are forbidden from making employment
decisions solely on the basis of these tools.
New section 1013 of article 36 establishes employees' right to access
the employee data collected by their employer when it is used for the
purposes of employment decisions and to correct inaccurate data,
requires employers to respond promptly to such inquiries.
New section 1014 of article 36 prohibits retaliation against employees
on the basis of requests to access their data or file a complaint under
this act, and clarifies that there is a rebuttable presumption of retal-
iation of adverse action is taken within 90 days of such an action.
New section 1015 of article 36 requires vendors of automated employment
decision tools to notify employers of their liability when selling or
offering such tools for use. New section 1016 empowers the commissioner
and the attorney general to enforce the provision of this law.
Section 2 amends section 218 of the labor law. Section 3 is the effec-
tive date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The advent of increasingly advanced algorithms and artificial intelli-
gence has led to the rise of automated employment decision tools
--computational processes derived from machine learning, statistical
modeling, or data analytics that produce scores, classifications, or
recommendations based on a set of criteria that employers can use to
screen, evaluate, or otherwise make a decision about a current or
prospective employee.
While these tools may purport to reduce bias and streamline hiring proc-
esses, they have at times been shown to discriminate against certain
groups, or on the basis of protected characteristics.
Amazon, for example, decommissioned its machine learning tool for
recruiting in 2018 after it quickly demonstrated a bias against women.
Other` automated employment decision tools have demonstrated clear bias
against African Americans, women, older Americans, and people with disa-
bilities. Nevertheless, a February 2022 survey by the Society of Human
Resource management shows 4 in 5 U.S. employers already deploy some form
of automated systems in recruitment and hiring decisions.
While employers may have a valid interest in increasing productivity or
streamlining their hiring processes, the use of automated tools to do so
should not entrench discrimination, bias, or violations of workers'
rights. New York City led the nation by passing Local Law 144 in 2021,
subjecting automated employment decision tools to independent public
audits.
This bill expands on those protections to establish comprehensive guide-
lines and guardrails for the use of these tools, including: explicitly
prohibiting the use of these tools to discriminate or otherwise violate
the law, requiring impact assessments of such tools and prohibiting
employment decisions made solely on the basis of such tools, and expand-
ing the information employers using such tools are required to provide
to employees.
The bill empowers the attorney general and. the department of labor to
enforce the provisions of the act, and employees to request and correct
data used to make decisions about them and from retaliation.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S.7623 of 2023-2024 (Hoylman-Sigal): Died in Labor
A.9315 of 2023-2024 (Alvarez): Died in Ways and Means
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become law.

Statutes affected:
S185: 218 labor law, 218(1) labor law