Local Law 144 of 2021 — automated employment decision tools
Employers and employment agencies, with no size threshold, where the job is located in New York City at least part-time — or is fully remote but attached to a New York City office. The audit and publication duties turn on the job's location; the notice provision is drafted around a candidate who resides in the city, and those two triggers are not textually identical.
- 01Ensure an independent auditor performed a bias audit no more than one year before use, and stop using the tool once a year has passed.
- 02Use historical data of the tool for the audit; test data only where historical data is insufficient, with an explanation in the summary.
- 03Publish on your website, before use, the date of the most recent audit, a summary of results including selection or scoring rates and impact ratios, and the tool's distribution date — and keep it up for six months after last use.
- 04Notify candidates at least 10 business days before use, with instructions for requesting an alternative selection process or accommodation.
- 05Disclose the job qualifications and characteristics the tool will assess.
- 06Publish, or supply within 30 days of written request, the type and source of data collected and the retention policy.
- 01Nothing. The Department's own FAQ states the vendor that created the tool is not responsible for the audit — the employer is. A vendor may commission an audit, but the auditor is not independent if it has a financial interest in the vendor, so a vendor-paid audit needs care before an employer relies on it.
- 01No ban on automated tools, and no requirement that a human review the output.
- 02No duty to actually grant an alternative selection process — only to allow a candidate to request one.
- 03No publication of the full audit report; the summary of results and distribution date suffice.
- 04No auditor licensure, accreditation or registration. 'Independent auditor' is defined functionally.
- 05No filing with the Department and no pre-approval.
- 06Does not reach tools that merely inform rather than substantially assist or replace discretionary decision-making.
Not more than $500 for a first violation, and $500 to $1,500 for each subsequent violation. Each day a tool is used in violation is a separate violation, and each failure to give notice is a separate violation. Injunctive relief available to corporation counsel.
The audit duty is the customer's, not ours — but the customer cannot discharge it without data from us, and the independence rule means we cannot simply hand them an audit we paid for and call it done. Whether BitStage can supply the historical selection-rate and impact-ratio data an independent auditor would need has not been assessed on the record.
“has been the subject of a bias audit conducted no more than one year prior to the use of such tool”
N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 20-871(a)(1)
NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, AEDT Frequently Asked Questions.