{"data":{"id":"us-ny/n.y.-labor-law-210-b","jurisdiction":"us-ny","citation":"N.Y. Labor Law § 210-b","heading":"Access to personnel records","body":"* § 210-b. Access to personnel records. 1. As used in this section,\nthe following terms shall, unless the context clearly requires\notherwise, have the following meanings:\n  (a) \"Employee\" means a person currently employed or formerly employed\nby an employer.\n  (b) \"Employer\" means any individual, corporation, partnership, labor\norganization, unincorporated association or any other legal business,\nincluding any governmental entity or public employer as defined in\nparagraph (a) of subdivision six of section two hundred one of the civil\nservice law, and any commercial entity, including agents of such\nemployer.\n  (c) \"Personnel record\" means a record kept by an employer that\nidentifies an employee, to the extent that the record is used or has\nbeen used, or may affect or be used relative to that employee's\nqualifications for employment, promotion, transfer, additional\ncompensation or disciplinary action. A personnel record shall include a\nrecord in the possession of a person, corporation, partnership or other\nassociation that has a contractual agreement with the employer to keep\nor supply a personnel record as provided in this section. A personnel\nrecord shall not include information of a personal nature about a person\nother than the employee if disclosure of the information would\nconstitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of such other person's\nprivacy. Without limiting the applicability or generality of the\nforegoing, all of the following written information or documents to the\nextent prepared by an employer regarding an employee shall be included\nin the personnel record for that employee: the name, address, date of\nbirth, job title and description; rate of pay and any other compensation\npaid to the employee; starting date of employment; the job application\nof the employee; resumes or other forms of employment inquiry submitted\nto the employer in response to the employer's advertisement by the\nemployee; all employee performance evaluations, including but not\nlimited to, employee evaluation documents; written warnings of\nsubstandard performance; lists of probationary periods; waivers signed\nby the employee; copies of dated termination notices; any other\ndocuments relating to disciplinary action regarding the employee. A\npersonnel record shall be maintained in typewritten or printed form or\nmay be handwritten in indelible ink.\n  2. An employer shall notify an employee within ten days of the\nemployer placing in the employee's personnel record any information to\nthe extent that the information is, has been used or may be used, to\nnegatively affect the employee's qualification for employment,\npromotion, transfer, additional compensation or the possibility that the\nemployee will be subject to disciplinary action. An employer receiving a\nwritten request from an employee to access such employee's personnel\nrecord shall provide the employee with a copy of such personnel record,\nat no cost to the employee, within five business days of submission of a\nwritten request for such copy to the employer. An employer shall not be\nrequired to allow an employee to review the employee's personnel record\non more than two separate occasions in a calendar year; provided,\nhowever, that the notification and review caused by the placing of\nnegative information in the personnel record shall not be deemed to be\none of the two annually permitted reviews.\n  3. If there is a disagreement with any information contained in a\npersonnel record, removal or correction of such information may be\nmutually agreed upon by the employer and the employee. If an agreement\nis not reached, the employee may submit a written statement explaining\nthe employee's position which shall be contained and become a part of\nsuch employee's personnel record. The statement shall be included when\nsaid information is transmitted to a third party as long as the original\ninformation is retained as part of the file. If an employer places any\ninformation in a personnel record which such employer knew or should\nhave known to be false, the employee shall have remedy through the\ncollective bargaining agreement, other personnel procedures or judicial\nprocess to have such information expunged. The provisions of this\nsection shall not prohibit the removal of information contained in a\npersonnel record upon mutual agreement of the employer and employee for\nany reason.\n  4. An employer shall retain the complete personnel record of any\nemployee as required to be kept under this section without deletions or\nexpungement of information from the date of employment of such employee\nto a date three years after the termination of employment of the\nemployee with such employer.\n  5. If an employer elects to have a written personnel policy regarding\nthe terms and conditions of employment, such personnel policy, as the\nsame may be amended from time to time, shall be continuously maintained\nat the office of such employer where personnel matters are administered.\n  6. Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede the terms\nof a collective bargaining agreement, provided, however, that such\nagreement provides at least substantially similar access by an employee\nto their personnel records as that provided by this section.\n  7. Any violation of this section by an employer or any other person\nshall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than\ntwenty-five hundred dollars. This section shall be enforced by the\nattorney general.\n  8. No employer or any other person shall discharge, threaten,\npenalize, or in any other manner discriminate or retaliate against any\nemployee who exercises such employee's rights under this section. As\nused in this section, to threaten, penalize, or in any other manner\ndiscriminate or retaliate against an employee includes, but is not\nlimited to, threatening to contact or contacting United States\nimmigration authorities or otherwise reporting or threatening to report\nan employee's suspected citizenship or immigration status or the\nsuspected citizenship or immigration status of an employee's family or\nhousehold member, as defined in subdivision two of section four hundred\nfifty-nine-a of the social services law, to a federal, state or local\nagency.\n  * NB Effective November 8, 2026","path":["Labor Law","Article 7. General Provisions"],"source_url":"https://legislation.nysenate.gov/api/3/laws/LAB/210-B","current_through":"2026-09-11","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T19:32:45Z","sha256":"76c89baae2623fc64383b40bca36d7407f00050c62c6edf56876b7bf4a13f4b3","source_id":"us-ny","stale":false,"prev":"us-ny/n.y.-labor-law-210-a","next":"us-ny/n.y.-labor-law-211"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}