Retail Employers Must Establish Workplace Violence Prevention Programs Under New York State Law

On September 5, 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Retail Worker Safety Act (Act), mandating both the New York Department of Labor (the Department) and certain employers to implement programs and policies aimed at preventing and responding to workplace violence. The Act goes into effect on March 4, 2025.

Notably, the Act closely follows a similar law in California that took effect on July 1, 2024. Employers should anticipate other states to follow suit in the coming years. For further insights, Buchanan’s analysis of California’s law can be found here.

The Act broadly defines and applies to employers, including “any person, entity, business, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or an association employing at least ten retail employees,” excluding government entities.¹ Retail employees are those individuals “working at a retail store for an employer.”  The Act defines and distinguishes 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.” 

The Act mandates three areas of focus for workplace violence prevention: policy, programming, and panic buttons. Once developed, the Department will publish templates in English and other languages on its website to assist employers in drafting their policies and programs. Employers must provide copies of their policy and program at the time of hiring the employee and annually thereafter. The Department Commissioner will promulgate rules and regulations for implementing these provisions.

1. Policy

First, the Department will create a model retail workplace violence prevention policy, which will outline:

1. Potentially dangerous retail workplace situations,
2. Violence prevention and reporting methods,
3. Federal, state, and local laws concerning violence against retail workers and victims’ remedies, and
4. Prohibition of retaliation for reporting workplace violence.

Every employer must either adopt the Department’s model policy or establish a policy with standards equal to or exceeding those of the model policy.

2. Programming

Second, the Department will develop and produce a model workplace violence prevention training program. Again, employers must either adopt the Department’s model program or develop their own program with standards equal to or exceeding those of the model program. Employers must provide the training program to retail employees upon hire and annually thereafter.

The program provided to retail employees must be interactive and must include the following:

1. Information on the requirements of the training program,
2. Protective measures retail employees can utilize,
3. De-escalation tactics,
4. Active shooter drills,
5. Emergency procedures, and
6. Instruction on using security alarms, panic buttons, or other emergency devices.

The model program will also include supervisory training. Further, employers must communicate a site-specific list of emergency exits and meeting places to each employee.

3. Panic Buttons

Third, employers with 500 or more retail employees nationwide are required to provide access to panic buttons throughout the workplace(s). If an employer utilizes wearable or mobile-phone-based buttons, the employer must provide the buttons to each of their retail employees as long as the mobile-phone panic buttons are only installed on employer-provided equipment. None of the panic buttons may be used to track employee locations unless the panic button has been triggered. The Act does not explicitly state who will bear the cost of panic button installation, but the surrounding language indicates that employers are financially responsible.

Installation of panic buttons is not required until January 1, 2027.

Key Takeaways

• As the March 4, 2025, effective date approaches, employers should assess whether to use the Department’s model policy and model program, or draft a customized policy and interactive training program in compliance with the Act. Buchanan attorneys are readily available to assist with this decision, drafting policies, and providing programming in compliance with the Act.
• Employers must incorporate the programming training, including a copy of the policy, into employee onboarding at the time of hire and provide it annually thereafter.
• By the January 1, 2027, deadline, employers with 500 or more retail employees nationwide must work towards implementing the panic buttons in compliance with the Act.

Buchanan’s labor and employment attorneys are monitoring the Act and any guidance issued by the Department. For any questions, please contact the authors.