Information contained in this publication is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or opinion, nor is it a substitute for the professional judgment of an attorney.
As of February 4, 2025, the New York Senate and Assembly approved a Chapter amendment to the Retail Worker Safety Act (the “Act”), a law that has drawn much attention and caused consternation among employers, legal practitioners, and lawmakers. The proposed Chapter amendment is waiting on Governor Hochul’s signature for it to become law.
The original Act signed by Governor Hochul on September 4, 2024, goes into effect on March 3, 2025. The law, as adopted, requires New York employers that have at least 10 retail store1 employees to: (1) adopt a workplace violence prevention policy; and (2) implement a workplace violence prevention training program. It further requires covered employers with 500 or more employees nationwide to provide panic buttons to their retail workers to be used in case of emergency.
The proposed Chapter amendment to the Act includes the following changes:
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Original Text |
Amended Text |
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Employers with more than 500 retail employees nationwide must provide access to panic buttons at the workplace that immediately contact the local 911 public safety answering point to dispatch law enforcement. |
Employers with 500 or more retail employees statewide must provide retail workers access to silent response buttons that request immediate assistance from a security officer, manager, or supervisor in case of an emergency. |
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All covered employers must provide the workplace violence prevention training upon hire and annually thereafter. |
Employers with 50 or more retail employees must provide workplace violence prevention training upon hire and annually thereafter, but employers with fewer than 50 retail employees need only provide the workplace violence prevention training upon hire and every two years thereafter. |
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The commissioner of the NY Department of Labor has discretion in terms of in which languages to prepare the model workplace violence prevention policy and program based on the size of the New York State population that speaks each language. |
The commissioner of the NY Department of Labor must prepare the model training policy and program in the 12 most common non-English languages in the state based on data from the United States Census Bureau. |
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The commissioner must adopt rules and regulations interpreting this law. |
The commissioner may adopt rules and regulations interpreting this law. |
The other provisions of the Act as currently enacted would remain unchanged through the Chapter amendment. Thus, the Act applies to any person, entity, business, or company that has at least 10 retail employees. The Act requires covered employers to adopt a workplace violence prevention policy and implement a workplace violence prevention training program. The NY Department of Labor will establish model policies and training programs that employers may choose to adopt. Otherwise, an employer may develop its own compliant workplace violence prevention policy and training to be provided to employees.
If Governor Hochul approves of the proposed Chapter amendment, the Act’s new effective date would be June 2, 2025. In both the original Act and proposed Chapter amendment, the button requirement goes into effect on January 1, 2027. The proposed Chapter amendment further maintains that the silent response buttons may be (1) stationary and positioned throughout the workplace, (2) wearable, or (3) mobile-phone based.
Covered employers should prepare by determining whether they will adopt the NY Department of Labor’s model policy and training or create their own. While the proposed amendments to the Act would give employers an additional three months to comply with the requirements to adopt a workplace violence prevention policy and to provide training to employees, the current effective date of March 3 is less than a month away. Accordingly, employers are advised to address these requirements quickly. Further, employers subject to the panic/silent response button portion of the Act should research the available options and be prepared to devote resources to the necessary technology and equipment in order to comply with this section of the law.
We will provide an update if the proposed Chapter amendment is signed into law by Governor Hochul.
See Footnotes
1 “Retail Store” is defined in the law as a store that sells consumer commodities at retail and is not primarily engaged in the sale of food for consumption on the premises.
