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There is no single worldwide “right to an explanation” when an employer uses artificial intelligence. Your protections depend on where the job is located, whether you are applying or already employed, and whether the system merely organizes information or materially influences hiring, promotion, pay, scheduling, discipline, or termination. New York City has specific notice, bias-audit, and accommodation rules for certain hiring and promotion tools. The European Union classifies many recruitment and work-related systems as high-risk under the AI Act. Elsewhere, the applicable anti-discrimination, disability, privacy, and worker-protection laws may differ.
AI does not transfer legal responsibility to a vendor or software model. New York City’s October 2026 enforcement policy expressly says an organization remains responsible when its technology violates city law. The practical response is to identify the jurisdiction and tool, preserve records, request an accommodation when needed, and use the relevant enforcement channel.
Rights at a glance
| Place or rule | When it applies | What the cited source establishes |
|---|---|---|
| New York City Local Law 144 | Certain automated tools that substantially assist or replace discretionary screening for hiring or promotion in the city | Recent bias audit, public audit summary, advance notice, specified information on request, and an opportunity to request an alternative process or accommodation |
| New York City disability protections | Technology used in an application or employment process covered by the New York City Human Rights Law | An employer cannot avoid responsibility by blaming the algorithm and may need to accept an accommodation request or alternative application method |
| European Union AI Act | Many systems intended to recruit, select, or materially affect work-related relationships | Many such uses are high-risk; classification depends on intended use and actual influence, with narrow exceptions |
| Other jurisdictions | Federal, national, state, provincial, and local rules outside these examples | This evidence does not establish a complete inventory. Rights and complaint routes must be checked for the job’s location |
The table is a map, not a universal entitlement. A tool can fall under one rule for a New York City applicant and a different rule for a worker elsewhere, even if the software is identical.
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“AI at work” covers very different activities. A system that alphabetizes résumés without affecting who advances is not the same as a model that ranks candidates, rejects applications, recommends promotion, sets schedules, or flags people for discipline. Legal coverage commonly turns on the tool’s intended function and how much its output influences a decision.
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Ask three threshold questions:
- What decision is being made? Hiring and promotion are the clearest examples in the New York City rule. Scheduling, performance scoring, termination, and compensation may be governed by other laws or policies.
- What does the system actually do? A score, classification, ranking, recommendation, targeted advertisement, or background-screening filter can materially shape an outcome. Purely administrative organization may be treated differently.
- Where is the affected person or job located? A company’s headquarters, the vendor’s location, and the applicant’s location are not interchangeable. Local rules can apply to a city resident or a job performed in that city.
These questions also explain why a person generally cannot assume a right to opt out, receive source code, obtain a human reconsideration, or appeal solely because a company used AI. Those rights must come from a particular law, contract, policy, or accommodation duty.
New York City: Local Law 144 for certain hiring and promotion tools
Which tools are covered
The New York City Administrative Code defines an automated employment decision tool as a computational process derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or artificial intelligence that produces a simplified output, such as a score, classification, or recommendation. The output must be used to substantially assist or replace discretionary decision-making for an employment decision affecting a person. For this subchapter, the covered employment decisions are screening candidates or employees for promotion within New York City. Read the statutory definition and scope in the New York City Administrative Code.
That definition is narrower than “any AI used by an employer.” A chatbot answering general questions, a filing system that does not influence selection, or a tool used outside the covered decision context may not be an automated employment decision tool under this subchapter. Conversely, calling a system “assistive” does not remove it from coverage if its output substantially drives who proceeds.
Audit and publication duties
An employer or employment agency may not use a covered tool to screen a candidate or employee unless the tool received a bias audit no more than one year before use. Before the tool is used, the employer or agency must make public a summary of the latest audit and the distribution date of the audited version. A public summary is evidence that the required audit and publication steps were addressed; it is not a guarantee that an individual outcome was accurate, unbiased, or lawful.
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The audit requirement is version- and timing-sensitive. If a system is materially changed or the most recent audit is more than a year old, the organization may need to address those facts before using it. The code does not turn the public summary into a personal report explaining why one applicant was rejected.
Advance notice and information requests
At least 10 business days before using the covered tool, the employer or agency must notify a New York City-resident candidate or employee that the tool will be used. The notice must identify the job qualifications and characteristics the tool will assess. It must also allow the person to request an alternative selection process or an accommodation.
If the relevant information is not already on the employer’s or agency’s website, a written request must make available the type and source of data collected by the tool and the data-retention policy. This is a targeted transparency right. It does not automatically require disclosure of the model’s code, a complete explanation of an individual score, or a guaranteed non-automated hiring process for reasons unrelated to an accommodation.
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How to report a missing audit or notice
The city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection explains that workers and applicants can report an employer or employment agency that did not conduct or post the required audit or failed to provide the required notice. Use the agency’s Automated Employment Decision Tools worker information to identify the current reporting route and the information to submit.
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A New York State Comptroller audit report states that the applicable civil-penalty range is $500 to $1,500 per day for non-compliance. That figure is the range described in the report and city law, not a statistic showing how much was collected in a particular case. The report covered July 2023 through June 2025; consult the current code and agency guidance for later changes. See the Comptroller’s Local Law 144 enforcement audit.
Disability accommodations can apply even when a tool passes an audit
Local Law 144’s audit and notice rules do not replace disability-discrimination duties. Guidance from the New York City Commission on Human Rights says covered entities remain responsible for decisions made with AI and other technology. An organization cannot avoid liability by arguing that software, rather than a person, produced a discriminatory result.
The guidance also identifies a practical accommodation issue: technology may be discriminatory if an employer does not permit a person to request an accommodation for the application or fails to offer an alternative way to apply. For example, an assessment that measures a disability-related limitation rather than a job qualification may require a different format, additional time, or another selection method, depending on the facts.
Make the request early and in a form you can preserve. Describe the barrier and the adjustment you need; you do not have to diagnose the employer’s algorithm. The Commission on Human Rights disability guidance explains the city’s position. An accommodation request is not the same as a general demand for human review, and the outcome will depend on the person’s disability, the essential job requirements, and the employer’s obligations.
European Union: many employment systems are high-risk under the AI Act
The European Commission’s AI Act Service Desk treats many systems intended for recruitment or selection, or that affect the terms of work-related relationships, as high-risk. Examples include tools that source candidates, match and rank applicants, score answers and rank people for interviews, target employment advertisements, assign candidates to vacancies, or filter applicants through background checks when the output materially affects progression.
Human involvement in name alone does not necessarily change the classification. If the system’s output is a primary input or materially influences the employment decision, the use can remain within the high-risk examples. Employers should therefore be able to explain the system’s intended purpose, the point at which people exercise judgment, and how they prevent an automated signal from becoming an unchecked proxy for protected characteristics.
Uses that may fall outside the cited recruitment category
The Commission also gives narrower examples that may not be in the recruitment category described above: flagging non-inclusive wording in a job advertisement without evaluating applicants, monitoring an employer’s reputation without tracking individuals, applicant-controlled CV or job-search assistance, and limited procedural work such as organizing CV information without materially affecting selection. Classification turns on intended use and actual influence, so the same product can be treated differently after a change in configuration or workflow.
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Read the Commission’s current employment examples in the AI Act Service Desk employment guidance.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.AI does not erase ordinary discrimination responsibility
On October 1, 2026, New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Commission on Human Rights, and Taxi and Limousine Commission announced an enforcement policy stating that existing city laws continue to apply when organizations use artificial intelligence. Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su said, “A company that breaks the law is responsible for what its technology does, and the agencies that enforce our laws and this will hold violators accountable.” Commission Chair Christine Clark stated, “Discrimination is illegal, whether that discrimination is committed by a person or an algorithm.” The announcement is available from NYC’s October 2026 AI enforcement-policy notice.
This principle matters outside the specific Local Law 144 checklist. An audit, notice, or high-risk classification does not authorize discriminatory treatment. A vendor contract does not necessarily shift the employer’s duties. If a model systematically screens out people because of disability, race, sex, age, religion, or another protected status, the affected person may need to use the ordinary discrimination or accommodation process as well as any AI-specific reporting route.
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The available examples here do not establish a complete statement of United States federal law, every state or city rule, or all EU member-state procedures. They show why a worker should identify the actual decision and applicable location before choosing a remedy.
What to do if you suspect an AI-driven decision harmed you
- Preserve the timeline. Save the job advertisement, application confirmation, assessment instructions, emails, screenshots of notices, interview dates, rejection or promotion messages, and the name or description of the tool. Keep copies in a personal location consistent with confidentiality rules.
- Record what the tool decided. Note whether it ranked, scored, filtered, recommended, scheduled, or merely organized information; who reviewed the result; and whether the output was described as decisive or advisory.
- Check for required notice. In New York City, compare what you received with the 10-business-day notice requirement, the stated qualifications and characteristics, and the opportunity to request an alternative process or accommodation.
- Ask focused written questions. Where Local Law 144 applies and the information is not posted, request the data types, data sources, and retention policy. Ask the employer to identify the tool’s role without demanding proprietary code as if it were automatically public.
- Request an accommodation promptly. Explain the disability-related barrier and the alternative method or adjustment needed. Keep the request and response. Do not wait for a final rejection if the assessment itself is inaccessible.
- Use the right complaint channel. For a missing New York City audit or notice, start with DCWP’s worker information. For disability discrimination in New York City, consult the Commission on Human Rights. In another city, state, country, or EU member state, use that jurisdiction’s labor, equality, disability, or data-protection authority.
- Get qualified advice for deadlines and evidence. Agency filing windows, collective-bargaining rights, immigration concerns, and privacy rules vary. A worker-rights lawyer, union representative, or authorized legal clinic can match the facts to the applicable law.
Questions a worker should not assume the law answers
- “Can I always opt out of AI?” Not on the evidence summarized here. New York City notice must allow a request for an alternative selection process or accommodation, but that is not a universal opt-out for every applicant.
- “Must a human personally re-score me?” Not automatically. Human review may be required by a particular rule or accommodation, but the cited NYC notice rule does not promise a full human reconsideration of every outcome.
- “Does a public bias-audit summary prove my result was fair?” No. It demonstrates a publication step and describes audit findings; it does not establish that an individual decision was lawful or accurate.
- “Does calling software a recommendation avoid regulation?” No. If the output substantially assists or replaces discretionary screening, its label alone does not settle coverage.
Bottom line
Your strongest starting point is not the word “AI”; it is the combination of location, employment decision, and the tool’s actual influence. In New York City, qualifying hiring and promotion tools bring concrete audit, publication, notice, data-information, and accommodation-related duties. Disability and anti-discrimination responsibilities remain even when a vendor supplied the system. In the European Union, many recruitment and materially influential work-related systems are classified as high-risk, while narrow administrative or applicant-controlled uses may fall outside the cited category. Elsewhere, check the governing local and national rules. Preserve evidence, make specific written requests, and report suspected violations to the authority responsible for the job’s jurisdiction.
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