New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act: What retailers need to know

In a groundbreaking measure, New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed into law a bill requiring every employer with 10 or more retail employees to establish a workplace violence prevention plan and conduct annual workplace violence prevention training.

The law goes into effect March 3, 2025. It is one of the most expansive workplace violence prevention laws for retailers in this country, although it arguably pales in comparison to the California law that took effect July 1 of this year, requiring similar safety measures for employers across most industries.

The passage of the Retail Worker Safety Act in New York and the Workplace Violence Prevention Act in California were in response to growing concerns about workplace violence. For example, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was an 11% increase in workplace homicides from 2014 to 2019. Data from 2022 notes that 524 workers were victims of homicide while on the job in 2022. 

And homicide is not the only concern.  In fact, the “Justification” section of the Sponsor Memorandum for the Retail Worker Safety Act notes that “[r]ecent polls show that the majority of retail workers said they’ve been subject to intimidating conduct or verbal harassment from
another individual within the last year.”

Unlike the California law, New York’s Retail Worker Safety Act only applies to retail workers 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.”

Another major difference is the New York law contains a unique requirement that is the first of its kind in this country: retail employers with over 500 employees nationwide must provide panic buttons to their retail employees. The law specifies that when pressed, such buttons must immediately alert authorities (local 911 public safety answering points) to dispatch law enforcement. This section of the law does not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2027. 

Retail employers can choose to either install stationary panic buttons throughout the workplace or to provide all retail employees with wearable or mobile phone-based panic buttons. Regardless of the selected option, these panic buttons may not be used to track employee locations except when pressed. Additionally, if an employer chooses to utilize a mobile phone-based panic button, it must be installed on an employer-provided device.

Workplace Violence Prevention Policy

The Retail Worker Safety Act specifies that the Workplace Violence Prevention Policy must:

• Outline a list of factors or situations that might place employees at risk of workplace violence;
• Outline methods to be used to prevent workplace violence incidents, including reporting systems for such incidents;
• Include information about the federal and state statutory provisions that address violence against retail workers and the remedies available to employees, as well as a statement that there may be applicable local laws; and
• Enumerate protections against retaliation for employees who report workplace violence or
  report the presence of factors/situations in the workplace that might place a retail employee at risk of violence, or who testify or assist in a related legal proceeding.

In preparing and implementing their policies, employers should consider and respond to situations that might place employees at risk of workplace violence. Examples include: if employees work late at night or early in the morning, exchange money with the public, work alone or in small numbers or have uncontrolled access to the workplace. Thus, adopting a one-
size-fits-all approach for evaluating and assessing risk factors will likely not pass muster under
the law.

Covered employers have two timeframes to keep in mind when distributing the policy. First, employers must provide the policy to all employees upon hire. Second, they must provide the
policy at an annual workplace violence prevention training. Further, the policy must be provided
to employees in English as well as in the employee’s primary language.

Workplace Violence Prevention Training

The law also requires that covered employers in New York must administer workplace violence
prevention training to all new hires and on an annual basis. Such training must be interactive and
include:

• Information regarding the Retail Worker Safety Act;
• Examples of measures retail workers can use to protect themselves when faced with
  workplace violence from customers or coworkers;
• De-escalation tactics;
• Active shooter drills;
• Emergency procedures; and
• Instruction on the use of security alarms, panic buttons and other emergency devices.

The law’s training component also requires employers to evaluate and plan for potential risks based at each particular worksite, and mandates covered employers to, in connection with the workplace violence prevention training, communicate to employees site-specific lists of emergency exits and meeting places that can be used in the event of an emergency.

The law also notes that at the time of hiring and annually thereafter, covered employers must provide a notice to their employees containing the workplace violence prevention policy and the information presented at the workplace violence prevention training. This notice shall be
provided in English and in the language identified by each employee as their primary language.

The New York State Department of Labor (NY DOL) will establish a model policy and training
program. Covered employers may adopt the model policy and/or training program or may
establish their own compliant policy and training. The Retail Worker Safety Act provides that
the NY DOL will evaluate and update the model policy and training every four years beginning
in 2027.

It remains to be seen whether this law will be expanded to cover other industries outside of retail in New York as well as whether other states will follow California and New York’s lead in this space.