Establishes the retail worker safety act requiring retail worker employers to develop and implement programs to prevent workplace violence; requires employers to provide training on such programs and to conduct an annual review of the program; requires the installation of panic buttons at certain workplaces.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A8947B
SPONSOR: Reyes
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring retail worker
employers to develop and implement programs to prevent workplace
violence
 
PURPOSE:
To increase worker safety by requiring retail worker employers to imple-
ment policies and training programs to prevent workplace violence.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 would provide the title of the act, "Retail Worker Safety
Act."
Section 2 would provide the legislative intent.
Section 3 would provide requirements for employers relating to the
development and implementation of a workplace violence prevention policy
and training program. The Department of Labor would also be required to
create a model workplace violence prevention training program to be
utilized by employers.
Section 4 would establish the effective date.
 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
The A-print amendments would require the Department of Labor to create a
model workplace violence prevention training program to be utilized by
employers and clarify the required information to be included in such
training program. The amendments would also remove the requirement for
the Department to create a publicly accessible database consisting of
incidents of workplace violence; rather, employers would be required to
maintain records of such incidents for a minimum of three years and
report such information to the Department upon request. The amendments
also provide various technical changes.
The B-print amendment would provide a technical change.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Retail workers are subject to constant verbal harassment, threats of
violence and actual violence. Violence has become normalized in retail
settings, especially since the pandemic, when retail workers had to
enforce mask wearing and social distancing rules in order to keep them-
selves safe. Grocery store workers have also been targeted for racial-
ly-motivated mass shootings; we recently honored the one-year anniver-
sary of the mass shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo. While
there is no data on the amount of verbal harassment suffered by retail
workers, we know anecdotally it, is often a daily issue. This is unac-
ceptable.
Despite the constant harassment and assaults faced by retail workers,
there is virtually no training offered by employers in violence
prevention, de-escalation tactics, or escape procedures. In fact, few if
any employers have actually assessed the risk of violence in the work-
place, let alone developed a plan to reduce the risk. There is no
formalized system to report violent incidents, assess their causes and
develop better strategies for prevention. In many retail settings, secu-
rity guard positions have been cut to save money, despite the threat to
workers remaining. In response, this legislation mandates employers
conduct a risk evaluation by examining the workplace for potential
hazards related to workplace violence and implement a workplace violence
prevention policy and training program.
 
FISCAL IMPACT:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act would take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
on or before such effective date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8947--B
IN ASSEMBLY
January 30, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. REYES, SHRESTHA, LEVENBERG, ZINERMAN, SIMONE,
ARDILA, OTIS, FORREST, GIBBS, STECK, HEVESI, GALLAGHER, CARROLL,
GONZALEZ-ROJAS, MAMDANI, BURDICK, BURGOS, BORES, JACOBSON, CRUZ,
TAYLOR, DARLING, CLARK, KIM, COLTON, CUNNINGHAM -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Labor -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring retail worker
employers to develop and implement programs to prevent workplace
violence
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "retail
2 worker safety act".
3 § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares that
4 violence against retail workers is a growing problem in New York. From
5 verbal harassment that often leads to physical violence, all the way to
6 racially motivated mass shootings of retail workers and customers,
7 retail workers are on the front lines of violence in our society. Given
8 that these stores offer essential necessities to the public, this
9 violence is also a threat to public health and safety. The legislature
10 also finds and declares that many employers have not done enough to take
11 responsibility for the health and safety of their employees. Few employ-
12 ers have conducted risk assessments of their workplace, and even fewer
13 have adequately trained their employees in how to respond to harassment
14 and potentially violent situations.
15 § 3. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 27-e to read as
16 follows:
17 § 27-e. Duty of retail worker employers to develop and implement
18 programs to prevent workplace violence. 1. Definitions. For the purposes
19 of this section:
20 a. "Employer" means any person, entity, business, corporation, part-
21 nership, limited liability company, or an association employing at least
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13440-05-4
A. 8947--B 2
1 ten retail employees. The term shall not include the state, any poli-
2 tical subdivision of the state, a public authority, or any other govern-
3 mental agency or instrumentality.
4 b. "Retail employee" means an employee working at a retail store for
5 an employer.
6 c. "Workplace" means any location away from an employee's domicile,
7 permanent or temporary, where an employee performs any work-related duty
8 in the course of their employment by an employer.
9 d. "Retail store" means a store that sells consumer commodities at
10 retail and which is not primarily engaged in the sale of food for
11 consumption on the premises.
12 2. Risk evaluation and determination. Every employer shall evaluate
13 its workplace or workplaces to determine the presence of factors or
14 situations in such workplace or workplaces that might place retail
15 employees at risk of workplace violence. Examples of such factors shall
16 include, but not be limited to:
17 a. working late night or early morning hours;
18 b. exchanging money with the public;
19 c. working alone or in small numbers;
20 d. uncontrolled access to the workplace; and
21 e. areas of previous security problems.
22 3. Written workplace violence prevention policy. a. Every employer
23 shall develop and implement a written workplace violence prevention
24 policy for its workplace or workplaces that includes the following:
25 (1) a list of the risk factors, such as those identified in subdivi-
26 sion two of this section, that are present in such workplace or work-
27 places;
28 (2) the methods the employer will use to prevent incidents of work-
29 place violence at such workplace or workplaces, including but not limit-
30 ed to the following:
31 (i) making high-risk areas more visible to more people;
32 (ii) installing good external lighting;
33 (iii) using drop safes or other methods to minimize cash on hand;
34 (iv) posting signs stating that limited cash is on hand;
35 (v) providing employee training; and
36 (vi) establishing and implementing reporting systems for incidents of
37 workplace violence.
38 b. Every employer shall make the written workplace violence prevention
39 policy available upon request to its retail employees, such retail
40 employees' designated representatives, and the department. Retail
41 employees shall be provided a written copy of the workplace violence
42 prevention policy upon hire. The written policy shall be available in
43 English, Spanish and any other language requested by a retail employee
44 within thirty days of such request.
45 4. Employee information and training. The department, in consultation
46 with relevant groups as deemed necessary, shall produce a model work-
47 place violence prevention training program. Every employer shall utilize
48 the model workplace violence prevention training program pursuant to
49 this subdivision or establish a workplace violence prevention training
50 program that equals or exceeds the minimum standards provided by such
51 model training program. The department's model training program shall
52 include, but not be limited to:
53 (a) information on the requirements of this section;
54 (b) examples of measures retail employees can use to protect them-
55 selves when faced with workplace violence from customers or other
56 coworkers;
A. 8947--B 3
1 (c) de-escalation tactics;
2 (d) active shooter drills;
3 (e) emergency procedures; and
4 (f) instruction on the use of security alarms, panic buttons, and
5 other related emergency devices.
6 5. All training shall be conducted in English as well as the primary
7 languages spoken by retail employees in the workplace. Every employer
8 shall provide its retail employees with such workplace violence
9 prevention training at the time of hiring and annually thereafter. When
10 providing such workplace violence prevention training, each employer
11 shall also inform their retail employees of the details and location of
12 the written workplace violence prevention policy developed pursuant to
13 this section. Each employer shall include the risk factors specific to
14 such employer's workplace or workplaces, measures retail employees can
15 take to protect themselves from such risks identified in such written
16 workplace violence prevention policy, and any procedures the employer
17 has implemented to protect retail employees.
18 6. Documentation of workplace violence incidents. Every employer shall
19 document each incident of workplace violence and shall maintain a copy
20 of such documentation for a minimum of three years after each incident.
21 Every employer shall provide documentation of such incidents to the
22 department upon request and shall remove any personally identifying
23 information from such documentation before delivering it to the depart-
24 ment.
25 7. Annual review. Every employer shall review the number and scope of
26 workplace violence incidents annually and shall make any necessary
27 changes to the written workplace violence prevention policy as
28 prescribed by subdivision three of this section.
29 8. Panic buttons. Every employer of fifty or more retail employees
30 shall install panic buttons at easily accessible locations throughout
31 the workplace or workplaces. For the purposes of this section, "panic
32 button" shall mean a physical button that when pressed immediately
33 dispatches local law enforcement to the workplace.
34 9. Security guards. Employers who have experienced a certain number of
35 violent incidents in their workplace or workplaces in a given period of
36 time, as determined by the department, shall be required to have a secu-
37 rity guard present at the workplace during all hours in which the work-
38 place is open.
39 10. Within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of this
40 section, the commissioner shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to
41 implement the provisions of this section.
42 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
43 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
44 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
45 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
46 on or before such effective date.