New York Law Journal (Law.com) Quotes Robert Whitman on New York’s New Personnel File Access Law

New York Law Journal (Law.com) quoted Labor & Employment partner Robert Whitman in its article, “New York Employers Face Uncertainty From Personnel File Access Law.” The article, published on September 16, 2026, examines a newly enacted New York law requiring employers to provide current and former employees access to their personnel records and notify them when potentially negative information is added to their files.

Whitman discussed the practical challenges employers may face in determining what information must be included in personnel files under the law’s broad definition, noting:

“The biggest pitfall for employers is determining what information, what kinds of documents and other communications, have to be included. It’s easy to understand how a formal performance review would be part of an employee’s personnel file and would be used to evaluate that employee’s prospects with an employer, but what about less formal documents like a supervisor’s handwritten notes about an employee’s performance on a project?”

The full article is available here.