NYC AEDT Notice — Local Law 144

1. What is NYC Local Law 144?

New York City Local Law 144 of 2021 (in force since 5 July 2023, enforced by NYC DCWP) regulates the use of Automated Employment Decision Tools (AEDTs) in hiring or promotion decisions affecting candidates or employees in New York City.

Top5's AI ranking and Topgrading assessment fall within the law's definition of an AEDT because they use machine learning to substantially assist or replace discretionary decision-making for employment decisions.

2. When LL 144 applies

LL 144 applies to a role if any of the following is true:

• The job is located, in whole or in part, in New York City
• The job is fully remote but tied to an NYC office or NYC employer
• The employment agency or recruiter using the AEDT is itself located in NYC

Coverage is determined by the job and the employer, not only by where the candidate lives.

3. What LL 144 requires before AEDT use

1. Bias audit: the AEDT must have been independently audited for bias within the last 12 months.
2. Public results: a summary of the audit results must be published on the employer's website.
3. Candidate notice: candidates must be told that an AEDT will be used, what qualifications and characteristics it considers, and where to request accommodation. Notice must be given at least 10 business days before AEDT use.
4. Right to opt out: candidates must be given the opportunity to request an alternative selection process.

4. Why Top5 carves NYC-covered use out

Top5 is operated by a small team and has not yet commissioned an independent bias audit. Until we do, we cannot offer "Top5 is NYC LL 144 compliant out of the box." We do not publish a fake or speculative audit-completion date.

Customers who already satisfy LL 144 themselves (for example, those who run an annual cross-system bias audit covering Top5 and publish the summary on their own site) may use Top5 for NYC-covered hiring — they are responsible for the audit, public summary, and 10-business-day candidate notice. Our Terms of Service §4b imposes this contractually.

5. What Top5 does instead

• The Terms of Service prohibit Top5's use for NYC-covered hiring unless the customer has independently satisfied LL 144 (see Terms §4b).
• When the mini-ATS application form ships, it will ask candidates whether they are applying for an NYC-based role and route NYC applicants to manual handling if the role has not been attested LL 144-ready by the customer.
• When the recruiter creates a role, they will be asked whether the role is NYC-covered. If yes, AI ranking on that role is disabled unless the recruiter attests they hold a current LL 144 bias audit.

6. When will Top5 commission an independent audit?

We will commission an independent bias audit when a customer with material NYC-covered hiring volume commits to Top5. We will publish the audit summary on this page and update Top5's position accordingly. We are not publishing a speculative target date in advance — we will state the actual commissioning and publication dates when they are agreed.

7. Candidate complaints

If you are an NYC-resident candidate and you believe Top5 has been used to screen you for an NYC-covered role without the LL 144 notice or audit obligations being met, contact privacy@top5cv.com. We will investigate the customer's use of the service and take appropriate action.

8. Contact

Audit and compliance questions: legal@top5cv.com
Candidate rights: privacy@top5cv.com