December 2022: New York City Defers AI Law Enforcement to April 15, 2023

Update Applicable to: 
All employers who utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) for hiring and promotions in New York City.

What happened?
In this previous communication, we notified you that New York City’s Department of Consumer and Workplace Protection (DCWP) released proposed rules implementing Local Law Int. No. 1894-A regulates the use of automated employment decision tools (AEDT) in hiring and promotion decisions.

New York City is deferring enforcement of its first-in-the-nation regulation of the use of AI-driven hiring tools (Local Law 144 of 2021), which was initially slated to go into effect on January 1, 2023

What are the details? 
On November 4, 2022, the DCWP held a hearing to allow the public to comment on the Department’s proposed rules implementing Local Law 144. The highly anticipated hearing was well attended by various constituencies and resulted in roughly 180 pages of comments. Unfortunately, after that hearing, DCWP did not provide a firm date on when the proposed rules would be finalized, leaving employers with additional questions and concerns given the law’s January 1, 2023, effective date.

As a result of the public response to Local Law 144’s proposed rules, DCWP has now published an update on its website indicating that a second public hearing will be held and that enforcement of the law will be postponed until April 15, 2023. 

While this is a welcomed development considering the list of ambiguities that remain, the announcement is light on details, and DCWP has not provided the date additional comments are due, when the second public hearing will be held, or when the employer community can expect final regulations to be published.

For more information, please see the links below:

Local Law Int. No. 1894-A

New York City’s Department of Consumer and Workplace Protection (DCWP)

Deferring Enforcement

Previous Vensure Communication (October 19, 2022)

Article 1 – Article 2

What do employers need to do?
Employers should review the links provided above and be on the lookout for any updates regarding the law come April 2023. Vensure will continue to update once more news has been received.