Local Law 144 added Sections 20-870 through 20-874 to the New York City Administrative Code. It covers employers and employment agencies that use an automated employment decision tool in the city to screen candidates for employment or employees for promotion. DCWP interprets use “in the city” by reference to the job or employment-agency location, including a fully remote role associated with a New York City office. A covered AEDT is a computational process derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or artificial intelligence that produces a simplified output used to substantially assist or replace discretionary employment decision-making. Under 6 RCNY § 5-300, substantial assistance exists when the output is the sole factor, is weighted more heavily than every other criterion, or overrules conclusions derived from other factors, including human judgment. Mere transcription or translation of existing text is not a simplified output under the rule. Before use, the employer or employment agency must ensure that an independent auditor conducted a bias audit no more than one year earlier. The audit must calculate selection or scoring rates and impact ratios separately for sex, race and ethnicity, and intersectional sex/race/ethnicity categories. It must identify individuals whose category is unknown. A category representing less than two percent of the audit data may be excluded from impact-ratio calculations only if the published summary gives the auditor’s justification and the category’s applicant count and selection or scoring rate. Historical AEDT data is generally required. Test data may be used only where historical data is insufficient for a statistically significant audit. Before using the tool, the employer or employment agency must publish the audit date, data source and explanation, category counts, selection or scoring rates, impact ratios, unknown-category count, and the AEDT distribution date. The material must remain available for at least six months after the tool’s latest use. New York City resident candidates and employees must receive notice at least ten business days before the AEDT is used. The notice must identify the use of the AEDT and the job qualifications or characteristics it will assess and must explain how to request an alternative selection process or reasonable accommodation where available. The rule does not require the employer to provide an alternative process solely because one is requested. Information on collected data, its source, and the retention policy must be published or supplied within 30 days after a written request, subject to the statutory legal and law-enforcement exceptions. DCWP enforces the law and accepts complaints. Penalty proceedings may be brought before OATH or another designated city tribunal, and Corporation Counsel or a designee may seek compliance and other appropriate relief in court. Section 20-874 preserves otherwise available civil rights and the New York City Commission on Human Rights’ authority; it should not be characterized as creating a new standalone private cause of action.
Regulation
Verified record
- Risk classification summary
- The law governs covered AEDTs that substantially assist or replace hiring or promotion decisions and addresses disparate-impact risk through independent bias audits; it does not create general AI risk tiers.
- Requirements summary
- Obtain an independent bias audit no more than one year before use; calculate the prescribed selection or scoring rates and impact ratios; use historical data unless the rule permits test data; publish the required audit summary and distribution date before use; retain the published material for at least six months after the latest use; give covered New York City resident candidates and employees at least ten business days’ notice; and publish or provide the type and source of data and the retention policy.
- Affected entities
- Employers and employment agencies using a covered AEDT in New York City to screen an applicant for a specific position or an employee for promotion. It covers screening at any stage, not only the final decision. Resume-bank searches, outreach, or invitations to apply are outside this defined candidate-assessment use.
- Enforcement summary
- DCWP enforces the law and accepts complaints. OATH or another designated city tribunal may hear penalty proceedings. Corporation Counsel or a designee may seek mandatory compliance or other appropriate relief.
- Penalty summary
- Administrative Code § 20-872 authorizes not more than $500 for a first violation and every additional violation on the same day, and $500 to $1,500 for each subsequent violation. Each day of noncompliant AEDT use and each omitted required notice is a separate violation. Under 6 RCNY § 6-81, the schedule is $375 for a first violation ($500 on default), $1,350 for a second violation ($1,500 on default), and $1,500 for third and subsequent violations or defaults; repeat levels concern the same respondent and provision within two years.