A new law gives New York employees the right to request a free copy of their personnel file and receive it within five business days — something they’ve previously never had the legal right to do. Partner James Valentino recently bylined an article for Bloomberg Law explaining the impact of this New York law for employers and employees.

Labor Law Section 210-b goes into effect on Nov. 8, 2026 and will have a significant impact on employment litigation and dispute resolution. As Valentino states, the law gives employees a free, pre-lawsuit look at the employer’s performance narrative about the employee and creates a contemporaneous record against which any later performance-based defense will be measured.

Valentino explains the requirements of the law and identifies three open questions. The statute does not say how far “personnel record” reaches. It lets employers design their own procedures for disputes over false information but leaves open who decides and under what standard. And its reference to “judicial process” raises the question of whether those claims can be routed into arbitration.

In the article, Valentino provides recommendations that employers and employees should take to prepare for these new requirements.

An amendment to the law is expected in 2027 that will limit coverage of the law to records actually used in employment decisions. In the meantime, the law stands as written and the first enforcement actions will shape its reach.

Read “New York’s Personnel Records Law Shifts the Performance Fight” in Bloomberg Law.