Bill Text: NY A01959 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Grants employees access to personnel records; requires notice of negative information in such records and an opportunity for a review; permits employee to include certain information in personnel records.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-30 - print number 1959b [A01959 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A01959-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Grants employees access to personnel records; requires notice of negative information in such records and an opportunity for a review; permits employee to include certain information in personnel records.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-30 - print number 1959b [A01959 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A01959-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1959 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 23, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GONZALEZ-ROJAS, JACKSON, DINOWITZ, EPSTEIN, MAMDANI, GOODELL, SILLITTI, GLICK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to employee access to person- nel records The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 210-b to 2 read as follows: 3 § 210-b. Access to personnel records. 1. As used in this section, the 4 following terms shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, 5 have the following meanings: 6 (a) "Employee" means a person currently employed or formerly employed 7 by an employer. 8 (b) "Employer" means any individual, corporation, partnership, labor 9 organization, unincorporated association or any other legal business, 10 including any governmental entity or public employer as defined in para- 11 graph (a) of subdivision six of section two hundred one of the civil 12 service law, and any commercial entity, including agents of such employ- 13 er. 14 (c) "Personnel record" means a record kept by an employer that identi- 15 fies an employee, to the extent that the record is used or has been 16 used, or may affect or be used relative to that employee's qualifica- 17 tions for employment, promotion, transfer, additional compensation or 18 disciplinary action. A personnel record shall include a record in the 19 possession of a person, corporation, partnership or other association 20 that has a contractual agreement with the employer to keep or supply a 21 personnel record as provided in this section. A personnel record shall 22 not include information of a personal nature about a person other than 23 the employee if disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly 24 unwarranted invasion of such other person's privacy. Without limiting EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01556-01-3A. 1959 2 1 the applicability or generality of the foregoing, all of the following 2 written information or documents to the extent prepared by an employer 3 regarding an employee shall be included in the personnel record for that 4 employee: the name, address, date of birth, job title and description; 5 rate of pay and any other compensation paid to the employee; starting 6 date of employment; the job application of the employee; resumes or 7 other forms of employment inquiry submitted to the employer in response 8 to his advertisement by the employee; all employee performance evalu- 9 ations, including but not limited to, employee evaluation documents; 10 written warnings of substandard performance; lists of probationary peri- 11 ods; waivers signed by the employee; copies of dated termination 12 notices; any other documents relating to disciplinary action regarding 13 the employee. A personnel record shall be maintained in typewritten or 14 printed form or may be handwritten in indelible ink. 15 2. An employer shall notify an employee within ten days of the employ- 16 er placing in the employee's personnel record any information to the 17 extent that the information is, has been used or may be used, to nega- 18 tively affect the employee's qualification for employment, promotion, 19 transfer, additional compensation or the possibility that the employee 20 will be subject to disciplinary action. An employer receiving a written 21 request from an employee to access such employee's personnel record 22 shall provide the employee with a copy of such personnel record within 23 five business days of submission of a written request for such copy to 24 the employer. An employer shall not be required to allow an employee to 25 review the employee's personnel record on more than two separate occa- 26 sions in a calendar year; provided, however, that the notification and 27 review caused by the placing of negative information in the personnel 28 record shall not be deemed to be one of the two annually permitted 29 reviews. 30 3. If there is a disagreement with any information contained in a 31 personnel record, removal or correction of such information may be mutu- 32 ally agreed upon by the employer and the employee. If an agreement is 33 not reached, the employee may submit a written statement explaining the 34 employee's position which shall be contained and become a part of such 35 employee's personnel record. The statement shall be included when said 36 information is transmitted to a third party as long as the original 37 information is retained as part of the file. If an employer places any 38 information in a personnel record which such employer knew or should 39 have known to be false, the employee shall have remedy through the 40 collective bargaining agreement, other personnel procedures or judicial 41 process to have such information expunged. An employee may bring an 42 action in a court of competent jurisdiction to have false information 43 removed from his or her personnel record. The provisions of this section 44 shall not prohibit the removal of information contained in a personnel 45 record upon mutual agreement of the employer and employee for any 46 reason. 47 4. An employer shall retain the complete personnel record of any 48 employee as required to be kept under this section without deletions or 49 expungement of information from the date of employment of such employee 50 to a date three years after the termination of employment of the employ- 51 ee with such employer. In any cause of action brought by an employee 52 against such employer in any administrative or judicial proceeding such 53 employer shall retain any personnel record required to be kept under 54 this section which is relevant to such action until the final disposi- 55 tion thereof.A. 1959 3 1 5. If an employer elects to have a written personnel policy regarding 2 the terms and conditions of employment, such personnel policy, as the 3 same may be amended from time to time, shall be continuously maintained 4 at the office of such employer where personnel matters are administered. 5 6. Nothing in this section shall be construed to abrogate any 6 conflicting provisions of any collective bargaining agreement. 7 7. Any violation of this section by an employer or any other person 8 shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than 9 twenty-five hundred dollars. This section shall be enforced by the 10 attorney general. 11 8. No employer or any other person shall discharge, threaten, penal- 12 ize, or in any other manner discriminate or retaliate against any 13 employee who exercises his or her rights under this section. As used in 14 this section, to threaten, penalize, or in any other manner discriminate 15 or retaliate against an employee includes, but is not limited to, 16 threatening to contact or contacting United States immigration authori- 17 ties or otherwise reporting or threatening to report an employee's 18 suspected citizenship or immigration status or the suspected citizenship 19 or immigration status of an employee's family or household member, as 20 defined in subdivision two of section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the 21 social services law, to a federal, state or local agency. 22 9. An employee may bring a civil action in a court of competent juris- 23 diction against any employer or persons alleged to have discriminated or 24 retaliated against him or her for the exercise of his or her rights 25 under this section. The court shall have jurisdiction to restrain 26 violations of this section, within two years of such violation, regard- 27 less of the dates of employment of the employee, and to order all appro- 28 priate relief, including: enjoining the conduct of any person or employ- 29 er; ordering payment of liquidated damages, costs, and reasonable 30 attorneys' fees to the employee by the person or entity in violation; 31 and, where the person or entity in violation is an employer, ordering 32 rehiring or reinstatement of the employee to his or her former position 33 with restoration of seniority or an award of front pay in lieu of rein- 34 statement, and an award of lost compensation and damages (including, but 35 not limited to, compensatory and punitive damages), costs and reasonable 36 attorneys' fees. Liquidated damages shall be calculated as an amount not 37 more than twenty thousand dollars. The court shall award liquidated 38 damages to every employee aggrieved under this section, in addition to 39 any other remedies permitted by this section. 40 10. At or before the commencement of any action under this section, 41 notice thereof shall be served upon the attorney general by the employ- 42 ee. 43 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 44 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment, 45 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation 46 of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and 47 completed on or before such effective date.
