Compliance · July 18, 2026 · 6 min read
NYC Local Law 144: what the bias-audit rule actually requires
NYC LL144 requires an independent bias audit before an automated hiring tool screens candidates. What the law covers, what an audit measures, and what a vendor can and can't do for you.
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A deep dive from our guide to compliance-first hiring AI: New York City's Local Law 144.
What the law covers
LL144 applies to automated employment decision tools (AEDTs) that substantially assist screening for hiring or promotion of people in New York City. Three obligations attach before you use one, and all three sit with the employer:
- Bias audit — conducted within the previous year by an independent auditor who had no hand in building, selling or using the tool and no compromising financial tie to the employer
- Public disclosure — the audit date, a summary of results and the tool's distribution date, posted clearly and conspicuously on the careers section of your site
- Candidate notice — at least 10 business days before the AEDT is used, stating the job qualifications and characteristics it assesses
What the bias audit measures
The auditor calculates the selection rate (or average score) for each sex and race/ethnicity category, then the impact ratio — each group's rate divided by the highest group's rate. An impact ratio under 0.8 is the four-fifths rule flag for potential adverse impact. Crucially, this is measured on your candidates and your usage — not on a vendor's benchmark.
A vendor cannot 'be LL144 compliant' for you. Compliance is a property of how you use the tool. What a vendor can do is generate the records — selection rates, decisions, consent — that make the audit possible.
2026: the enforcement-light era is ending
From 2023 to 2025 enforcement was thin, and many employers quietly under-complied. That is changing. After a late-2025 New York State Comptroller review, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection signalled more rigorous enforcement from 2026 — so the cumulative exposure of running an unaudited tool is now materially higher than it was during the grace period.
What H-Evaluate provides
- Bias scanning at question generation, with the scan result recorded
- Adverse-impact reporting: pass rates and impact ratios by group
- An audit trail of gate decisions, reasons and human overrides
- Consent records, so notice-and-consent obligations are evidenced
Written by
Jakir Patel · Founder, Hanzomon
Building H-Evaluate — AI-native, quality-gated hiring assessments. Writes about assessment engineering, hiring integrity and compliance-first AI.