New York Background Check Laws

In New York City, the Fair Chance Act generally applies to employers with four or more employees and, subject to listed exceptions, bars criminal-history inquiries until after a conditional offer. If the employer then considers withdrawing the offer, it must perform the fair chance analysis, give the applicant a copy of the analysis and the information relied on, and allow at least five business days to respond. This timing rule is a New York City law. Statewide, Correction Law Article 23-A requires public agencies and private employers with ten or more employees to apply its factors before denying employment because of a prior conviction.

New York's Article 23-A of the Correction Law applies statewide to public agencies and to private employers with ten or more employees (Correction Law § 750). It permits denial of employment because of a prior conviction only where there is a direct relationship between the offense and the job or an unreasonable risk (§ 752), and requires consideration of eight factors (§ 753): the public policy of encouraging employment of persons with criminal records, the specific duties of the position, the bearing of the offense on fitness for the position, time elapsed, age at time of offense, seriousness of offense, rehabilitation evidence, and the employer's legitimate interest in protecting property and public safety.

New York Labor Law § 194-a bars employers from relying on an applicant's or employee's wage or salary history in deciding whether to offer employment or what to pay, and from seeking that history as a condition of being interviewed, considered for an offer, employed or promoted. An applicant may voluntarily disclose salary history without being prompted, and after an offer with compensation an employer may confirm prior pay if the applicant offers it to support a higher wage. The section includes an exception for disclosure or verification required by a pre-existing law. New York City has its own salary-history rule.

New York GBS § 380-j(f)(1)(v) limits reporting of convictions more than seven years after disposition, release or parole. Section 380-j(f)(2)(iii) provides an employment exception when annual salary equals or may reasonably be expected to equal $25,000 or more; it does not waive other New York protections. The separate federal $75,000 exception concerns FCRA § 605(a)(1)–(5) time limits only. Other federal, state and local reporting and use restrictions still require checking.

Two relevant New York sealing routes are CPL 160.59 and CPL 160.57; these are not an exhaustive account of record relief. Under CPL 160.59, a person may apply to a court to seal up to two eligible convictions (no more than one felony) after a ten-year waiting period. Under the Clean Slate Act (CPL 160.57), effective November 16, 2024, eligible convictions are sealed automatically after waiting periods — generally three years for misdemeanors and eight years for felonies — subject to conditions and exclusions, with implementation required by November 16, 2027. Not every eligible record is sealed yet, and sealed records remain available to certain authorized users such as law enforcement.

New York City's Fair Chance Act generally covers city employers with four or more employees, including covered private employers, subject to exceptions. Criminal-history inquiries generally wait until a conditional offer; a proposed withdrawal requires the fair chance analysis, disclosure and at least five business days to respond. Check other applicable local requirements separately.