New York State Ban the Box: Fair Chance Act, Clean Slate, and Exemptions

New York’s ban-the-box law is really two overlapping frameworks. Statewide, Correction Law Article 23-A and Executive Law § 296 limit how any employer can use a criminal conviction and completely bar questions about sealed records, dismissed cases, and youthful offender adjudications. In New York City, the Fair Chance Act goes further: employers cannot ask about criminal history at all until after a conditional job offer, and they must follow a specific process before withdrawing that offer. Which rules protect you depends on where the job is and what the employer is asking.

Records Employers Can Never Ask About

Executive Law § 296(16) makes several categories of criminal history permanently off-limits to any employer in New York, no matter when in the hiring process the question comes up. These are not timing rules. They are absolute:

Arrests or criminal accusations that ended in your favor, as defined in Criminal Procedure Law § 160.50 (dismissals, acquittals, and similar outcomes).
Cases adjourned in contemplation of dismissal and later dismissed.
Youthful offender adjudications under CPL § 720.35, which are not convictions.
Convictions sealed under CPL §§ 160.55, 160.58, 160.59, or 160.57 (the Clean Slate Act).

The statute applies to “any person, agency, bureau, corporation or association, including the state and any political subdivision thereof,” so private employers, government agencies, and licensing authorities are all covered.¹ If you are asked about a protected record, you can legally answer as though the event never happened, and the employer has no basis to hold that answer against you.

When a Conviction Can Legally Cost You the Job

Even when an employer learns about a legitimate, unsealed conviction, they cannot automatically reject you. Correction Law § 752 allows denial in only two situations: the conviction has a direct relationship to the duties of the specific job, or hiring you would create an unreasonable risk to property or to the safety of specific people or the general public.² If neither condition is met, the denial is unlawful. Executive Law § 296(15) reinforces this by making a denial that violates Article 23-A an unlawful discriminatory practice.¹

The Eight Factors an Employer Must Weigh

Before deciding whether a conviction justifies denying the job, the employer has to weigh all eight factors in Correction Law § 753:

New York’s public policy encouraging the employment of people with criminal records.
The specific duties and responsibilities of the job.
Whether the offense bears on your ability to perform those duties.
How much time has passed since the offense.
Your age when the offense occurred.
The seriousness of the offense.
Any evidence of rehabilitation you provide. A certificate of relief from disabilities or a certificate of good conduct creates a legal presumption of rehabilitation.
The employer’s legitimate interest in protecting property and the safety of employees, customers, or the public.

Every factor has to receive genuine consideration, and the analysis is weighed as a whole.³ An employer who notes that a conviction exists and stops there has not done what the law requires.

The NYC Fair Chance Act: No Questions Until a Conditional Offer

If you are applying for a job in New York City, you get a second layer of protection. The Fair Chance Act, enforced by the NYC Commission on Human Rights, prohibits employers from asking about criminal history, running a background check, or searching for arrest or conviction information until after they have extended a conditional offer of employment.⁴ This is the piece of New York law that most directly earns the “ban the box” label, because it removes the criminal history question from job applications and early interviews.

The law covers employers with four or more employees, counting the owner in that count. The employees do not all have to work at the same location; at least one has to work in New York City.⁴ The protections reach interns, freelancers, and independent contractors as well.⁵

Before a conditional offer, the restrictions cover job advertisements, written applications, digital portals, verbal screenings, and interviews. Employers cannot post language like “clean record required,” and hiring staff cannot try to discover an applicant’s criminal history through any means, including third-party searches.⁴

What the Employer Must Do Before Withdrawing an Offer

Once the conditional offer is on the table, the employer can ask about convictions and pending cases and can run a background check with your permission. If they then want to pull the offer based on what shows up, they cannot just do it. The Fair Chance Act requires three steps:

Give you a complete written copy of every piece of information the employer relied on, including the date and time it was accessed.
Provide a written Fair Chance Analysis documenting how the employer evaluated each Article 23-A factor and why it concluded the conviction is directly related to the job or poses an unreasonable risk. A boilerplate list of factors without genuine analysis violates the law.
Give you at least five business days to respond. During that period the employer cannot permanently fill the position.

The five-day clock starts when you actually receive both the background check results and the written analysis.⁵ Only after that window closes can the employer finalize the decision. You can use the time to correct errors in the report, submit evidence of rehabilitation, or challenge the employer’s reasoning. Skipping any step exposes the employer to enforcement by the Commission on Human Rights.

Clean Slate Automatic Sealing

New York’s Clean Slate Act took effect on November 16, 2024. It automatically seals eligible convictions after a waiting period: three years for misdemeanors and eight years for felonies other than Class A felonies. The clock runs from release from incarceration, or from the sentencing date if there was no jail time. A new conviction during the waiting period resets it.

Not every conviction qualifies. Sex offenses, sexually violent offenses, and Class A felonies are excluded, with one exception: drug-related Class A felonies remain eligible. The Act only reaches New York State convictions, not federal offenses or convictions from other states. You cannot be on probation or parole, and you cannot have criminal charges pending in New York.

Once sealed under the Clean Slate Act, a record drops off standard background checks and cannot be used for most civil purposes. Law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts still have access, and sealed records can still be considered when hiring police or peace officers, processing gun license applications, and filling positions that require fingerprint-based background checks under state or federal law, such as jobs involving children or vulnerable adults. The employment tie-in is direct: Executive Law § 296(16) lists convictions sealed under CPL § 160.57 among the records an employer cannot ask about or act on.¹

Jobs That Are Exempt

Some jobs sit outside these protections because federal or state law independently requires a criminal background check. Law enforcement and peace officer positions can access records sealed under CPL § 160.50.⁶ Executive Law § 296(16) exempts licensing decisions involving guns and firearms from the ban on criminal history inquiries.¹ Positions that require fingerprint-based background checks under state or federal law, including many roles involving children, the elderly, or vulnerable adults, may also fall outside the standard protections. Outside those narrow categories, the full framework applies.

Federal Rules That Also Apply

Two federal rules layer on top of New York’s protections. First, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission treats blanket criminal record exclusions as a possible violation of Title VII when they disproportionately affect applicants based on race or national origin. EEOC guidance points to three factors: the nature and seriousness of the offense, the time since the conduct or completion of the sentence, and the nature of the job.⁷ Those overlap heavily with the Article 23-A factors.

Second, when an employer uses a third-party company to run a background check, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act adds its own steps. Before any adverse action, the employer must give you a copy of the report and a summary of your federal rights. If the rejection becomes final, the adverse action notice must name the background check company, state that the company did not make the hiring decision, and tell you about your right to dispute inaccuracies and request a free copy of the report within 60 days. These federal notices apply regardless of what the state or city requires.

How to File a Complaint

Where you file depends on the employer and where the job is.

For violations by private employers anywhere in the state, Correction Law § 755 makes Article 23-A enforceable through the New York State Division of Human Rights, using the same procedures as other discrimination complaints.⁸ The Division can impose fines and damages, order policy changes, and reverse discriminatory decisions.⁹

For violations by a public agency, the enforcement route is an Article 78 proceeding, a court action challenging the government’s decision.⁸

If the job is in New York City and the violation involves the Fair Chance Act, the NYC Commission on Human Rights has concurrent jurisdiction over private employer complaints and can impose civil penalties, order back pay, and require policy changes. Filing with one agency does not automatically bar a claim with the other, but the remedies and timelines differ, so an attorney can help you decide where to file.

1
New York State Senate. New York Executive Law 296 – Unlawful Discriminatory Practices
2
New York State Senate. New York Correction Law 752 – Unfair Discrimination Against Persons Previously Convicted of One or More Criminal Offenses Prohibited
3
New York State Senate. New York Correction Law 753 – Factors to Be Considered Concerning a Previous Criminal Conviction; Presumption
4
NYC Commission on Human Rights. Fair Chance Act – Fact Sheet for Employers
5
NYC Commission on Human Rights. Legal Enforcement Guidance on the Fair Chance Act and Employment Discrimination on the Basis of Criminal History
6
New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 160.50
7
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
8
New York State Senate. New York Correction Law 755 – Enforcement
9
New York State Division of Human Rights. Division of Human Rights