Senate approves ban on mandatory iris/retina scans for most private employers, carves out hospitals

The New York State Senate passed legislation (Senate Print 6-81) that prevents most private employers from mandating the use of iris or retina biometric scanners while preserving that authority for government hospitals and medical colleges.

Supporters said the bill protects workers’ privacy and prevents a permanent security exposure if biometric data is stolen. “Biometric data security is permanent,” Senator Martinez said during debate, arguing that once biometric information is stolen it “cannot be changed.”

Sponsors and proponents framed the measure as an employee-rights bill that allows employers to keep biometric technology but gives individual workers the right to opt out without retaliation. The sponsor said employers retain the ability to use the technology for security; the statute simply removes a mandate and prevents adverse employment action for refusing to submit to iris/retina scans.

Opponents raised security and operational concerns for high-security workplaces. Senator Walzick pressed the sponsor with a sequence of questions about real-world effects, asking whether employees at airports, private data centers, chip fabs, nuclear facilities, banks, private security firms, pharmaceutical research facilities or contractors on National Guard bases would be able to opt out. Martinez replied the bill allows continued use of the technology but protects employees who decline to use it from employment consequences.

Some senators described the measure as an added regulatory cost for businesses that already rely on biometric solutions. Senator White said the bill would force employers to create alternative access systems and called it “an extra additional cost that companies…are now gonna have to” bear.

The Senate adopted the bill. Several senators recorded opposition during the roll call and named themselves on the floor; among senators listed as voting against the measure in the transcript were Feige, Helming, O'Barracko, O'Mara, Rhodes, Scoofus, Walzick, Webber and White. The legislation’s effective date is immediate, per the text read on the floor.

The bill’s sponsors said the law balances privacy and security by preserving employer access to biometric tools while preventing mandatory use as a condition of employment for most private-sector workers.