On September 4, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Retail Worker Safety Act (Labor Law §27-e), which requires certain employers to adopt a workplace violence prevention policy and implement annual training, and further mandates that large retail employers install panic buttons in the workplace.
The law directs the New York Department of Labor (NYDOL) to develop a model workplace violence prevention policy and a model training program. The policy must provide a list of violence risk factors, outline prevention practices, summarize statutory and regulatory protections against workplace violence, and emphasize that retaliation for complaining about workplace violence or factors is unlawful. The model program will address these same topics, along with de-escalation tactics, other emergency procedures, and guidance aimed at supervisors’ conduct in emergency situations.
Effective March 4, 2024, businesses with 10 or more “retail employees” are required to adopt the NYDOL’s workplace violence prevention policy or promulgate a sufficiently equivalent policy of their own. These employers will also be required to implement the NYDOL’s workplace violence prevention training, including a site-specific list of emergency exits and emergency meeting places. The workplace violence prevention training must be provided to employees upon hiring and annually thereafter.
The law defines “retail employees” as those who work in a store that sells consumer commodities at retail and is not primarily engaged in the sale of food for consumption on the premises. Thus, restaurants and bars are not covered.
Covered employers will be required to provide employees with notice of the workplace violence prevention policy upon hire and at the annual training. Employers must provide the policy in English and in the employee’s primary language, unless the NYDOL does not provide a policy in that language.
Beginning on January 1, 2027, the law also requires that businesses with at least 500 retail employees install panic buttons throughout their New York facilities or provide wearable or mobile phone-based panic buttons to each employee. If an employer opts for wearable or mobile panic buttons, it cannot use these devices to track employees’ locations unless triggered. Regardless of the type of panic button implemented, the button, upon being pressed, must immediately contact the local 9-1-1 public safety answering point, provide its employee’s location, and dispatch local law enforcement to the workplace.
The law comes on the heels of the enactment of a similar California law, which took effect on July 1 of this year, and perhaps represents the start of a legislative trend in the wake of mass shootings and other acts of violence.
In light of the new law, New York employers with retail locations should monitor the NYDOL’s website for updates on its model policy and training program. Likewise, while the deadline for panic buttons is still more than two years away, large employers should assess their options for physical and/or mobile panic systems.
