By: Walter Gonzalez, Esq. and Ty Hyderally, Esq.

November 10, 2026

There is a strange reality in many workplaces: your employer may have a file about you that can help determine whether you get promoted, whether you get a raise, whether you are disciplined, or even whether you keep your job.

And you may have no idea what is in it.

Maybe there is a performance review you never saw. Maybe your manager wrote up a conversation very differently than you remember it. Maybe HR has been documenting “performance concerns” for months while telling you everything is fine. Or maybe, shortly after you complained about discrimination, harassment, or another workplace problem, your previously clean record suddenly began filling up with criticism.

In 1925, Franz Kafka wrote a thriller about a world where people were arrested and prosecuted without ever knowing the reason.  In New York, employees have been dealing with a similar Kafkaesque reality as those in The Trial were dealing with.

Beginning November 8, 2026, New York employees will have a powerful new tool to find out.

New York’s newly enacted Labor Law § 210-b[1] will, for the first time, broadly require New York employers to give current and former employees access to their personnel records[2]. Governor Kathy Hochul signed the legislation on September 9, 2026, and the law applies to both public and private employers.

So, What Can You Ask For?

Under the new law, an employee may make a written request for their personnel record. The employer generally must provide a copy within five (5) business days and at no cost to the employee.

And “personnel record” is not limited to some folder marked “Personnel File” sitting in an HR office.

The statute broadly covers records that identify an employee and are used, or may be used, in decisions concerning employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, or discipline. The law specifically identifies materials such as job applications, resumes, performance evaluations, written warnings, probationary-period records, waivers, termination notices, and documents relating to disciplinary action.

Employees are generally entitled to review their records twice per calendar year.

But perhaps even more important than the right to ask is another requirement: your employer may now have to tell you when negative information is being added to your file.

If an employer places information in a personnel record that has been used, or may be used, to negatively affect employment, promotion, transfer, compensation, or possible discipline, the employer must notify the employee within ten (10) days.

Reader… that is huge! You might ask: But why?

Because Sometimes the Paper Trail Becomes the Story

Most employees do not spend their workday thinking about litigation. Nor should they have to. You go to work. You do your job. You deal with your boss, coworkers, deadlines, customers, patients, students, clients, and whatever else the day brings. But when an employment relationship begins to deteriorate, documentation becomes enormously important.

Consider an employee who worked for the same company for five years. She received good reviews. She received raises. Nobody documented significant, if any, performance problems.  Then she complains that her supervisor is discriminating against her, or she complains about some law or regulation not being followed.

Suddenly she is “not a team player.” Then there is a memo about her “attitude.” Then another about “communication.”

A few months later, the employer says she was terminated because of a longstanding performance problem.

That does not automatically mean discrimination or retaliation occurred. Employers, of course, are permitted to criticize employees, discipline them, and document legitimate performance problems – for legitimate reasons.  However, the key here is that the documentation must be done for legitimate non-discriminatory or non-retaliatory reasons.

Timing matters. Consistency matters. Whether the company’s explanation matches what actually happened matters.

Employment discrimination/harassment or retaliation cases often involve the concept of pretext.

Essentially, whether the reason given by an employer for taking an adverse action is the real reason or whether the evidence permits an inference that the stated reason is covering something else.

Personnel records are be an important part of that analysis.

New York’s new law gives employees a much better opportunity to know what is being written while they are still in a position to address it.

What If the File Is Wrong?

You do not necessarily have to remain silent.

If an employee disagrees with information contained in a personnel record, the employee and employer can agree to remove or correct it.

However, if they cannot agree, the employee can submit a written statement explaining their position. That response then becomes part of the personnel record. And if the disputed information is later transmitted to a third party, the employee’s written response generally must accompany it while the original information remains in the file. This itself, is important because of what it accomplishes in the bigger picture.

Imagine receiving a written warning claiming:

• “Employee failed to complete Project X by the required deadline.”
• But you have emails showing that Project X was reassigned two weeks before the deadline.

Previously, an employee might verbally tell a supervisor that the write-up was unfair, become frustrated when nothing changed, and move on.

Under the new law, an employee can potentially create something equally important: their own contemporaneous record of what happened.

That written response might matter months or even years later.

Former Employees Have Rights Too

The statute does not only protect people who are still employed.

Its definition of “employee” expressly includes former employees, and employers generally must retain complete personnel records through three years after separation from employment.

That can become particularly important after a termination.

Many employees leave a termination meeting knowing only what HR told them verbally. They may not know what documentation preceded the decision, what performance records exist, or how the employer characterized the events leading to termination.

Beginning November 8, 2026, New York workers will have a statutory mechanism to ask.

And Your Employer Cannot Retaliate Against You for Asking

The law also expressly prohibits employers from discharging, threatening, penalizing, discriminating, or retaliating against employees because they exercised rights provided by the statute.

In other words, asking to see your own personnel record should not itself become the reason that your employer takes action against you.

One Important Caveat

The law is brand new.

When Governor Hochul signed it, she also identified concerns about certain ambiguities and indicated that her office and the Legislature had agreed to work on amendments during the 2027 legislative session. Among the expected clarifications are questions concerning exactly which records must be produced and confirmation that employers are not required to create records they do not already maintain.

So, like many new employment laws, some of the details will continue to develop.

But the larger change is already significant.

For years, employees could find themselves defending against a workplace narrative without ever seeing the documents being used to create it.

Starting November 8, 2026, New York employees will have considerably more ability to ask a very simple question:

What exactly have you been writing about me?

At Hyderally & Associates, P.C., we represent employees in New Jersey and New York facing discrimination, retaliation, harassment, wage violations, leave issues, and wrongful termination. If you have questions regarding your rights as an employee, you should seek an experienced attorney who concentrates in employment law. Our firm has been concentrating in employment law for over twenty-three (23) years!

En nuestra firma hablamos español. This blog is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and may not reasonably be relied upon as such. If you face a legal issue, you should consult a qualified attorney for independent legal advice regarding your particular set of facts. This blog may constitute attorney advertising. This blog is not intended to communicate with anyone in a state or other jurisdiction where such a blog may fail to comply with all laws and ethical rules of that state or jurisdiction.

[1] https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LAB/210-B

[2] N.Y. Labor Law § 210-b, enacted through New York Senate Bill S.3460, Chapter 293 of the Laws of 2026. The legislation was signed September 9, 2026, and takes effect November 8, 2026. Senate Bill S3460