A new legislation (the Retail Worker Safety Act) aimed at improving workplace safety for retail workers in New York was recently signed by Governor Hochul. Interactive training, workplace violence prevention policies, and panic button implementation will soon become mandatory for retail employers in an effort to address rising concerns over workplace violence in retail settings.
Below is a FAQ designed to help employers through these new compliance obligations.
Which employers are covered under the new law?
The law covers retail employers with 10 or more employees within the state of New York, including part-time and seasonal workers, across grocery stores, department stores, convenience stores, and similar retail environments where employees regularly interact with customers.
(The law defines a retail store as “a store that sells consumer commodities at retail and which is not primarily engaged in the sale of food for consumption on the premises”.)
What are the new workplace violence training requirements?
The law requires covered employers to train retail employees upon hire and annually thereafter by providing them with:
- Information on the requirements of the Retail Worker Safety Act
- Protective measures such as de-escalation techniques and examples of measures they can use to protect themselves when confronted with violence from customers or co-workers
- Active shooter drills
- Emergency procedures
- Instruction on the use of emergency devices such as security alarms, panic buttons and other related devices
- A site-specific list of emergency exits and meeting places in case of emergency.
The training must be the state-provided interactive training, or the employer’s own that is an equivalent to the state-provided interactive training.
What should be included in the mandatory written workplace violence prevention policy?
This policy must address risk factors and prevention methods, and:
- Outline a list of factors or situations in the workplace that might put 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 uncontrolled access to the workplace).
- Outline methods that employers may use to prevent incidents of workplace violence including, but not limited to, establishing and implementing reporting systems for incidents of workplace violence.
- Include information about the federal and state statutory provisions concerning violence against retail workers and the remedies available to employees, as well as a statement that there may be applicable local laws.
- Clearly prohibit retaliation against individuals who report workplace violence or report the presence of factors and/or situations in the workplace that might place a retail employee at risk of workplace violence, or who testify or assist in a related legal proceeding.
What is the panic button requirement and which employers does it apply to?
Every employer of 500 or more retail employees nationwide must also provide access to panic buttons throughout the workplace. A panic button is described as “a physical button that when pressed immediately contacts the local 9-1-1 public safety answering point (PSAP) and provides that PSAP with employee location information, and dispatches local law enforcement to the workplace.”
The panic buttons may be physical or phone-based, and they must be installed in an “easily accessible” location in the workplace or wearable. Employers who choose to utilize wearable or mobile phone-based panic buttons will be required to provide a panic button to each employee.
When is the effective date of the new requirements?
The law goes into effect on March 4, 2025. However, the panic button policy will go into effect January 1, 2027.