Bill Text: NY S07946 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires employers to provide an employee, attorney for the employee or a representative of a recognized or certified employee organization, the opportunity to review and copy the employee's personnel file; provides the employee must submit a written request for this right to be exercised and former employees have to make the request within three years of leaving employment.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-04 - REFERRED TO LABOR [S07946 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S07946-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7946 IN SENATE January 4, 2024 ___________ Introduced by Sens. PARKER, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor AN ACT to amend the labor law and the civil service law, in relation to employees' right to review personnel 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 211-b to 2 read as follows: 3 § 211-b. Employee right to review personnel records. 1. The employer 4 shall, upon written request from an employee or former employee, provide 5 such employee, former employee separated from employment with such 6 employer within the previous three years, representative of a recognized 7 or certified employee organization or attorney of such employee with an 8 opportunity to review and copy the employee's personnel file if the 9 employer has a personnel file for that employee. The review and copying 10 must take place at the location where the personnel files are maintained 11 and during normal business hours unless, at the employer's discretion, a 12 more convenient time and location for the employee are arranged. 13 2. In each calendar year, the employer shall provide, at no cost to 14 the employee, one copy of the entire personnel file when requested by 15 the employee or former employee separated from employment with such 16 employer within the last three years and, when requested by the employee 17 or former employee separated from employment within the last three years 18 with such employer, one copy of all the material added to the personnel 19 file after the copy of the entire file was provided. The cost of copying 20 any other material requested during the calendar year shall be paid by 21 the employee requesting the copy. 22 3. For purposes of this section, a personnel file includes, but is not 23 limited to, any formal or informal employee evaluations and reports 24 relating to the employee's character, credit, work habits, compensation 25 and benefits, and nonprivileged medical records or nurses' station notes 26 relating to the employee. For the purposes of this section, the term 27 "nonprivileged medical records or nurses' station notes" means all those 28 materials that have not been found to be protected from discovery or EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD08059-01-3S. 7946 2 1 disclosure in the course of civil litigation or subject to the Health 2 Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 3 4. Records in a personnel file may be maintained in any form including 4 paper, microfiche or electronic form. An employer maintaining records in 5 a form other than paper shall have available to the employee, former 6 employee separated from employment with such employer within the previ- 7 ous three years, representative of a recognized or certified employee 8 organization or attorney of such employee the equipment necessary to 9 review and copy the personnel file. The employer shall take adequate 10 steps to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of such employee 11 records. 12 5. Any employer who, following a request pursuant to this section, 13 fails without good cause to provide an opportunity for review and copy- 14 ing of a personnel file, within ten days of receipt of such request, is 15 subject to a civil fine of twenty-five dollars for each day such failure 16 continues, except that such fine shall not exceed five hundred dollars 17 per request. An employee, former employee or the department may bring an 18 action in a court of competent jurisdiction for such equitable relief, 19 including an injunction, as the court may consider necessary and proper. 20 The employer may also be required to reimburse the employee, former 21 employee separated from employment with such employer within the previ- 22 ous three years or the department for costs reasonably related to the 23 litigation including reasonable attorney's fees, if the employee or the 24 department receives a judgment in the employee's or department's favor, 25 respectively. 26 6. This section shall not be deemed to diminish the rights of any 27 employee pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. 28 § 2. The civil service law is amended by adding a new section 153 to 29 read as follows: 30 § 153. Employee right to review personnel records. 1. The employer 31 shall, upon written request from an employee or former employee sepa- 32 rated from employment with such employer within the previous three 33 years, provide such employee, former employee separated from employment 34 with such employer within the previous three years, representative of a 35 recognized or certified employee organization or attorney of such 36 employee with an opportunity to review and copy the employee's personnel 37 file if the employer has a personnel file for that employee. The review 38 and copying must take place at the location where the personnel files 39 are maintained and during normal business hours unless, at the employ- 40 er's discretion, a more convenient time and location for the employee 41 are arranged. 42 2. In each calendar year, the employer shall provide, at no cost to 43 the employee, one copy of the entire personnel file when requested by 44 the employee or former employee separated from employment with such 45 employer within the previous three years and, when requested by the 46 employee or former employee separated from employment with such employer 47 within the previous three years, one copy of all the material added to 48 the personnel file after the copy of the entire file was provided. The 49 cost of copying any other material requested during the calendar year 50 shall be paid by the employee requesting the copy. 51 3. For purposes of this section, a personnel file includes, but is not 52 limited to, any formal or informal employee evaluations and reports 53 relating to the employee's character, credit, work habits, compensation 54 and benefits, and nonprivileged medical records or nurses' station notes 55 relating to the employee. For the purposes of this section, the term 56 "nonprivileged medical records or nurses' station notes" means all thoseS. 7946 3 1 materials that have not been found to be protected from discovery or 2 disclosure in the course of civil litigation or subject to the Health 3 Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 4 4. Records in a personnel file may be maintained in any form includ- 5 ing, paper, microfiche or electronic form. An employer maintaining 6 records in a form other than paper shall have available to the employee, 7 former employee or duly authorized representative the equipment neces- 8 sary to review and copy the personnel file. The employer shall take 9 adequate steps to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of such 10 employee records. 11 5. Any employer who, following a request pursuant to this section, 12 fails without good cause to provide an opportunity for review and copy- 13 ing of a personnel file, within ten days of receipt of such request, is 14 subject to a civil fine of twenty-five dollars for each day such failure 15 continues, except that such fine shall not exceed five hundred dollars 16 per request. An employee, former employee or the department of labor may 17 bring an action in a court of competent jurisdiction for each such equi- 18 table relief, including an injunction, as the court may consider neces- 19 sary and proper. The employer may also be required to reimburse the 20 employee, former employee separated from employment with such employer 21 within the previous three years or the department of labor for costs 22 reasonably related to the litigation including reasonable attorney's 23 fees, if the employee or the department of labor receives a judgement in 24 the employee's or such department's favor, respectively. 25 6. This section shall not be deemed to diminish the rights of any 26 employee pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. 27 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
