New York workplace violence law protects retail workers
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Retail Worker Safety Act into law on September 4, 2024. The law takes effect in early March 2025 (180 days after enactment).
Workplace violence prevention policy
The law requires New York retail employers with 10 or more employees to:
- Create and implement a workplace violence prevention policy that outlines factors or situations in the workplace that might place retail employees at risk of workplace violence, such as:
- Working late night or early morning hours;
- Exchanging money with the public;
- Working alone or in small numbers; and
- Having uncontrolled access to the workplace.
- Outline, in the policy, methods that employers may use to prevent incidents of workplace violence, such as:
- Establishing and implementing reporting systems for incidents of workplace violence;
- Having a way to share information about federal and state provisions concerning violence against retail workers, remedies available to victims of violence in the workplace, and a statement that there may be applicable local laws; and
- Communicating that retaliation against those who complain of workplace violence or situations that might place retail employees at risk of workplace violence, or who testify or assist in any proceeding under the law is unlawful.
Every covered employer must either adopt the state’s model retail workplace violence prevention policy (which is being developed) or establish a workplace violence prevention policy that equals or exceeds the minimum standards.
The retail workplace violence prevention policy must be provided to all employees in writing upon hire and annually thereafter.
Employee information and training
Based on the policy that covered employers implement—either the state’s or their own—employers must also establish a workplace violence prevention training program that equals or exceeds the minimum standards.
The training program must be interactive and include information such as:
- Examples of measures retail employees can use to protect themselves when faced with workplace violence from customers or other coworkers;
- De-escalation tactics;
- Active shooter drills;
- Emergency procedures; and
- Instruction on the use of security alarms, panic buttons, and other related emergency devices.
The information should address conduct by supervisors and any additional responsibilities for such supervisors, including ways to address workplace specific emergency procedures, and training on areas of previous security problems.
As part of this training, every employer must communicate to each employee a site-specific list of emergency exits and meeting places in case of emergency. This workplace violence prevention training must be provided to all retail employees upon hire and on an annual basis thereafter.
Panic buttons in place by 2027
As part of this law, retail employers with 500 employees or more nationwide must provide employees in their New York locations access to a silent alarm (i.e., panic button) for employees in need of emergency assistance. This portion of the law takes effect on January 1, 2027.
Affected New York employees must have access to panic buttons throughout the workplace. If an employer chooses to utilize wearable or mobile phone-based panic buttons, however, they’re required to provide such panic buttons to each of such employer's retail employees.
Mobile phone-based panic buttons may only be installed on employer-provided equipment. Also, wearable and mobile phone-based panic buttons may not be used to track employee locations except when the panic button is triggered.
What does this mean for other employers across the country?
While this new law is geared toward New York retailers, the country’s first workplace violence prevention law for general industry took effect July 1, 2024, in California.
Most California employers had a steep learning curve the past few months as they geared up to comply with the Cal/OSHA law. And the learning isn’t over yet. The agency has been working on writing the standard (i.e., regulations) for the law and received public comments through September 3.
Once the agency reviews the comments and makes changes, they’ll likely release the standard sometime in 2025. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) must adopt the standard no later than December 31, 2026. Employers across the country can look at what New York and California are doing and use them as a starting point to improve safety measures at their own organizations.
News reports following the recent school shooting in Georgia indicate that newly implemented safety measures, like automatically locking doors and staff panic buttons, may have helped save lives.
As organizations nationwide continue to grapple with how to prevent violent incidents from occurring at their worksites, following California’s lead (and soon New York’s) on implementing some control measures is a place to start.
Key to remember: New York Retail Worker Safety Act takes effect March 2025.
