WHAT THIS BILL REGULATES · 2 REQUIREMENT TYPES
How Is This Bill Enforced
Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.
Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "artificial intelligence workforce impact transparency act".
Establishes the short title of the act as the "Artificial Intelligence Workforce Impact Transparency Act." This provision creates no compliance obligation.
Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds and declares that: 1. Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation technologies are transforming industries and workplaces at an unprecedented pace. 2. While innovation offers significant productivity gains, it also carries risks of workforce displacement and requires responsive public policy. 3. The existing worker adjustment and retraining notification (WARN) act provides notice and data on large-scale layoffs but does not currently identify whether job losses are linked to automation or AI. 4. Collecting and publishing this information will allow New York state to better understand technological impacts on its workforce, inform future retraining programs, and guide equitable AI policy development. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to amend the labor law to require employers to disclose whether layoffs subject to WARN are due, in whole or in part, to automation or AI deployment.
Contains legislative findings regarding the pace of AI and automation transformation, the risks of workforce displacement, and the gap in current WARN Act reporting regarding AI-related job losses. States the intent to require employers to disclose whether WARN-eligible layoffs are due to AI or automation. This provision creates no compliance obligation.
(f)(i) 1 Each notice required under this section shall include a statement indicating whether the employment losses described are the result, in whole or in part, of the introduction, expansion, or adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, automation technologies, or machine-based processes that have replaced or materially altered the duties of affected employees.
(f)(ii) 1 Such statement shall also include, to the extent known by the employer at the time of notice: (A) The estimated percentage of positions affected due to such automation or AI integration; and (B) A brief description of the technology or process that contributed to the reduction.
This is the bill's core operative provision. It adds a new paragraph (f) to Labor Law § 860-b(1), requiring each WARN notice to include a statement indicating whether the employment losses are the result, in whole or in part, of the introduction, expansion, or adoption of AI systems, automation technologies, or machine-based processes that have replaced or materially altered the duties of affected employees. The employer must also disclose, to the extent known, the estimated percentage of positions affected and a brief description of the contributing technology.
The obligation piggybacks on the existing WARN notice framework — it does not create new triggering thresholds or a new class of covered entities, but rather adds content requirements to notices already required under the WARN Act.
(1) 2 The commissioner of labor shall maintain a database of reports submitted under paragraph (f) of subdivision 1 of section 860-b of the labor law.
(2)–(3) 2 Such commissioner shall prepare and publish quarterly summaries analyzing the number, sector, and location of workforce reductions identified as resulting from AI or automation. Such reports shall be made publicly available on the department of labor's website and shared with the department of economic development for use in workforce innovation planning and retraining programs.
Section 4 imposes obligations on the Commissioner of Labor (not on employers) to maintain a database of AI/automation-related WARN reports, prepare and publish quarterly summaries analyzing the number, sector, and location of AI/automation-related workforce reductions, and make reports publicly available on the Department of Labor's website and share them with the Department of Economic Development. These are government obligations, not private-sector compliance duties.
(1)–(2) 3 The department of labor shall, within 180 days of the effective date of this act, establish a two-year pilot program known as the AI Innovation and Workforce Tracking Initiative. The program shall evaluate compliance, data accuracy, and policy impacts of the reporting requirement, and issue a report to the governor and the legislature within 90 days after completion of the pilot period established pursuant to subdivision one of this section.
(3) The commissioner of labor may promulgate such rules and regulations as necessary to implement the provisions of this act.
Section 5 directs the Department of Labor to establish a two-year pilot program — the AI Innovation and Workforce Tracking Initiative — within 180 days of the act's effective date. The pilot evaluates compliance, data accuracy, and policy impacts of the new reporting requirement and must issue a final report to the governor and legislature within 90 days of the pilot's conclusion. The Commissioner of Labor is authorized to promulgate implementing rules and regulations. The pilot program sunsets two years after the act's effective date.
Severability. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected.
Standard severability clause providing that if any provision of the act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act is not affected. Creates no compliance obligation.
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law; provided however that the provisions of section five of this act shall expire and be deemed repealed two years after such date. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
The act takes effect on the 180th day after becoming law. The pilot program established in Section 5 expires and is repealed two years after the effective date. Rulemaking authority is effective immediately upon enactment to allow timely implementation. Creates no independent compliance obligation.