New York City Local Law 144 — AI Hiring Bias Audit Mandate

New York City's Local Law 144, enacted in December 2021 and enforced since July 2023, was the first law in the world to mandate independent bias audits of AI-based hiring tools (Automated Employment Decision Tools, or AEDTs) by sex and race.

To increase transparency and accountability around algorithmic hiring bias by requiring employers to test their AI hiring tools for disparate impact by sex and race, disclose results publicly, and inform candidates of their right to an alternative process.

Employers using an AEDT must commission an independent annual bias audit calculating selection and scoring rates by sex, race/ethnicity and their intersections, publish a summary of results, and notify candidates when an AEDT is used. The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) is responsible for enforcement, including a complaints hotline and civil penalties of US$500–1,500 per violation.

Independent evidence of compliance is weak. A 2024 peer-reviewed study tracking 391 New York employers found only about 4.6% had posted a bias audit report and about 3.3% had posted the required transparency notice. A December 2025 New York State Comptroller audit found that 75% of test calls to the city's complaints hotline were misrouted, that DCWP's own review of posted audits missed most of the compliance issues later found by the Comptroller, and that only two formal complaints were received in the law's first two years of enforcement.

Local Law 144 remains an influential first-mover model for framing algorithmic hiring bias as a sex- and race-equity issue, but the available evidence indicates that transparency-only, employer-self-scoped regulation has not yet produced verifiable compliance or measurable reductions in hiring bias.