NYC Local Law 144: bias audits for automated employment decision tools
NYC Local Law 144 has been in effect since July 2023. Employers using an Automated Employment Decision Tool to screen NYC candidates must complete an independent bias audit, publish the summary results, and notify candidates.
- Short name
- NYC LL 144
- Jurisdiction
- New York City, USA
- Penalty ceiling
- $500 per first violation, $1,500 per subsequent violation, per day
- Last updated
- May 21, 2026
Applies to
- Employers hiring for NYC roles
- Employment agencies operating in NYC
What it is
Local Law 144 of 2021, enforced since July 2023, regulates the use of "Automated Employment Decision Tools" (AEDTs) by employers and employment agencies in New York City. It is enforced by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP).
The law was the first major operational AI-in-hiring requirement in the United States and the predicate for much of the regulatory thinking that followed.
Who is on the hook
The law applies to employers and employment agencies that use an AEDT to screen candidates for employment or promotion to a position that is located in New York City or where the candidate is a NYC resident. Vendor-supplied tools are in scope; in-house tools are in scope; remote roles that are "based" in NYC are in scope.
An AEDT, as defined, is a computational process derived from machine learning that issues simplified output that substantially assists or replaces discretionary employment decisions.
What the employer must do
The operational obligations are:
- Bias audit. Within one year before the AEDT’s use, an independent auditor must conduct a bias audit of the tool. The audit must compute selection rates and impact ratios for sex categories, race / ethnicity categories, and intersectional categories.
- Publish the audit summary. The summary must include the audit date, the distribution date, and the underlying numbers. It must be available on the employer’s website.
- Candidate notice. Notice must be provided at least 10 business days before the AEDT is used on a candidate’s application. The notice must identify the tool and the job qualifications and characteristics the AEDT will assess.
- Annual refresh. The bias audit must be repeated annually for as long as the AEDT is in use.
Enforcement
Civil penalties up to $500 for the first violation and $1,500 for each subsequent violation, per day. The DCWP investigates complaints and can also act on its own.
What this means in practice
NYC LL 144 is the regime with the largest installed base of compliance work to date: most large US employers operating in NYC have already commissioned a bias audit, even if imperfectly. The Casework engagement treats the LL 144 audit as a foundational deliverable that the EU AI Act and Colorado AI Act regimes build on, rather than re-doing the audit work from scratch.
If you already have an LL 144 audit, the Casework engagement reviews it, packages it inside the bias-audit framework deliverable, and identifies gaps relative to the broader regimes.
Looking at this regulation from the vendor side instead? HireAIScore covers vendor compliance posture against this regulation.