NYC Local Law 144 Impact Ratio Calculator
How is the Local Law 144 impact ratio calculated?
Divide each group's selection rate by the selection rate of the most selected group. For a tool that scores people, use the scoring rate instead: the share of each group that scored above the median of the whole sample. The ratios are reported by sex, by race or ethnicity, and for every sex-and-race combination. The law sets no pass mark; it requires the numbers to be published.
New York City's Local Law 144 has applied since 5 July 2023 to employers and agencies using an automated tool to screen candidates or employees for jobs in the city. Before using one, they need an independent bias audit from the last year, and a public summary of it.
This is the arithmetic of that audit, done in your browser, so you can see the numbers before the auditor does.
Built by Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. The arithmetic is the same as the adverse impact ratio his Adverse Impact Calculator computes; this one adds the scoring rate, the intersectional categories and the reporting rules the city's regulations add.
Your impact ratios
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere.
The two rates, and when each applies
If the tool's output is a decision (advance or not, shortlist or not), each group's selection rate is the number selected divided by the number assessed. If the output is a score, the city's rules use a scoring rate: the share of each group whose score is above the median score of the whole sample. Either way, the impact ratio is a group's rate divided by the highest rate among the groups.
The ratios have to be reported three ways: by sex, by race or ethnicity, and for each combination of the two. The intersectional table is the one that usually shows the gap, because a tool can treat men and women equally overall and white and Black candidates equally overall while still treating Black women very differently.
The two reporting rules people miss
Unknown category. Candidates whose sex or race was not recorded cannot go into any ratio, but the published summary must say how many there were. A large unknown group is itself a finding: it means the ratios describe only the people who chose to answer.
The 2% rule. The rules allow the independent auditor to leave a category that makes up less than 2% of the data out of the impact ratio calculation, if they explain why. The category's count and its rate are still reported. Switch the setting above to see how much the excluded groups were moving the reference rate.
Why 0.80 is shown, and why it is not the law
The four-fifths rule comes from the US federal Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (1978): a selection rate below 80% of the highest group's is treated as evidence of adverse impact worth investigating. Local Law 144 borrowed the ratio but not the threshold. Nothing in it says a tool with a ratio of 0.75 cannot be used. Federal and state discrimination law still applies to the outcome, though, and a published ratio under 0.80 is exactly what a claimant's lawyer would read first.
What this will not tell you
This does the arithmetic. It is not the bias audit: the law requires that to be done by an independent auditor with no financial interest in the tool, on historical data from the tool's own use (or test data if there is not enough). It cannot tell you whether a low ratio comes from the tool or from the applicant pool, and with small groups the ratios swing so much that a single hire changes the picture. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
Questions people actually ask
Who has to comply with Local Law 144?
Employers and employment agencies that use an automated employment decision tool to substantially assist or replace a hiring or promotion decision for a job located in New York City, including remote roles tied to a city office. They need a bias audit from the last year, a public summary of it, and notice to candidates at least ten business days before use.
What is a scoring rate?
The share of a group whose score is above the median score of everyone assessed. It turns a continuous score into something comparable across groups when the tool ranks rather than decides.
Is an impact ratio below 0.80 illegal under Local Law 144?
No. The law requires the audit and the publication, not a particular result. The 0.80 marker comes from the federal four-fifths rule of thumb, and discrimination law still applies to what the tool does.
Can small groups be left out?
A category that is less than 2% of the data can be excluded from the impact ratio calculation by the independent auditor, who must explain why; its number and rate are still reported.
Do I need an independent auditor?
Yes. The audit must be done by someone who has not been involved in using, developing or distributing the tool and has no financial interest in it or in the employer. A tool like this one is a pre-check.
Sources
Checked against the text of the law on 16 October 2026. Laws and notified rates change; if a source below has moved on, the source wins over this page.
- Local Law 144 of 2021 (NYC Administrative Code 20-870 to 20-874): https://intro.nyc/local-laws/2021-144
- DCWP final rule, 6 RCNY 5-300 to 5-304 (adopted April 2023): https://rules.cityofnewyork.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DCWP-NOA-for-Use-of-Automated-Employment-Decisionmaking-Tools-2.pdf
- DCWP, AEDT frequently asked questions (29 June 2023): https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/about/DCWP-AEDT-FAQ.pdf
- Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29 CFR 1607.4 (four-fifths rule): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/29/1607.4
Cite this tool
Free to use and free to quote. If a figure here is useful in something you are writing, a link back is all that is asked.
Muhammad Shahzeb Anwar, MSc Industrial and Organizational Psychology. NYC Bias Audit Impact Ratio Calculator. Shahzeb Speaks. https://www.shahzebspeaks.com/nyc-bias-audit-impact-ratio-calculator/
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Running the four-fifths check at every hiring stage?
The paid Adverse Impact Calculator works out selection rates and the four-fifths ratio at each stage of a hiring process, with small groups marked rather than reported. It runs offline, in one file. It does not do the Local Law 144 scoring rate or intersectional tables; this free page does.