Anthony DeCarlos testifies on personnel file rights and community hiring

Good afternoon.

Sorry, I'm going to be reading from my phone, just to be clear.

Good afternoon, Chair Juan and members of the committee.

My name is Anthony DeCarlos.

I'm a former hospitality worker, 10 plus years in New York City restaurant.

I run Clear the Records.

It's a free education site that teaches hospitality and gig workers to check and dispute the records employers report about them.

I'm here about a right that takes effect 12 days from now.

On November 8th, New York Labor Law Section 210B gives every worker in the state the right to see their own personnel files.

A worker can demand it in writing, and an employer must hand over a free copy within five business days, twice a year.

If something negative goes into the file, the worker must be told within 10 days.

The worker's written response becomes a part of the file, and it travels with them wherever the record is sent.

It applies even when the background check vendor holds the records.

I know.

what this law is worth because I've lived the version without it.

When I lost my job, my unemployment was held up for months by the employer that said that there was misconduct

for my work history to the Department of Labor, which later withdrew the misconduct report from my record in June of this year.

My wages were reported under the wrong company and the wrong subsidiary.

Every error was invisible to me until it cost me money and work to find out what was happening.

Community hiring cannot place workers whose files are wrong.

Until November 8th, workers could not even look at them.

So my simple ask is, as this committee oversees the Office of Community Hiring, make Section 210B part of the pipeline.

Every worker who walks into a city program should walk out knowing they can demand their files before a database decides their future.

To harm them.

A right workers don't know about deserve to be hired anyway.

Thank you.