Bill Text: NY A08947 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 34-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-21 - print number 8947b [A08947 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A08947-Amended.html
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. LBD13440-05-4A. 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.
