Bill Text: NY A08947 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Establishes the retail worker safety act requiring retail worker employers to develop and implement programs to prevent workplace violence; directs the department of labor to produce a model workplace violence prevention training program; requires employers to provide training on such programs; requires the installation of panic buttons at certain workplaces or wearable or mobile phone-based panic buttons to be provided.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 38-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-09-05 - approval memo.6 [A08947 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A08947-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8947

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 30, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Labor

        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
    22  ten retail workers. The term shall not include the state, any  political
    23  subdivision  of the state, a public authority, or any other governmental
    24  agency or instrumentality.
    25    b. "Employee" means a retail worker working for an employer.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13440-02-4
        A. 8947                             2

     1    c. "Workplace" means any location away from  an  employee's  domicile,
     2  permanent or temporary, where an employee performs any work-related duty
     3  in the course of his or her employment by an employer.
     4    d.  "Retail  store"  means  a store that sells consumer commodities at
     5  retail and which is not primarily  engaged  in  the  sale  of  food  for
     6  consumption on the premises.
     7    2.  Risk  evaluation  and determination. Every employer shall evaluate
     8  its workplace or workplaces to determine  the  presence  of  factors  or
     9  situations in such workplace or workplaces that might place employees at
    10  risk  of workplace violence. Examples of such factors shall include, but
    11  not be limited to:
    12    a. working late night or early morning hours;
    13    b. exchanging money with the public;
    14    c. working alone or in small numbers;
    15    d. uncontrolled access to the workplace; and
    16    e. areas of previous security problems.
    17    3. Written workplace violence prevention program. Every employer shall
    18  develop and implement a written workplace  violence  prevention  program
    19  for its workplace or workplaces that includes the following:
    20    a.  a  list  of the risk factors identified in subdivision two of this
    21  section that are present in such workplace or workplaces;
    22    b. the methods the employer will use to prevent incidents of workplace
    23  violence at such workplace or workplaces, including but not  limited  to
    24  the following:
    25    (1) making high-risk areas more visible to more people;
    26    (2) installing good external lighting;
    27    (3) using drop safes or other methods to minimize cash on hand;
    28    (4) posting signs stating that limited cash is on hand;
    29    (5) providing employee training; and
    30    (6)  establishing  and implementing reporting systems for incidents of
    31  workplace violence.
    32    4. Employee information and training. a. Every employer shall make the
    33  written workplace violence prevention program available,  upon  request,
    34  to  its  employees, their designated representatives and the department.
    35  New hires shall be provided a copy of the written program upon hire. The
    36  written program shall be available in English,  Spanish  and  any  other
    37  language  requested  by  employees, which shall be made available within
    38  thirty days of such request. All trainings shall be conducted in English
    39  as well as the primary languages spoken in the workplace.
    40    b. Every employer shall  provide  its  employees  with  the  following
    41  information  and  training  on  the risks of workplace violence in their
    42  workplace or workplaces at the time  of  their  initial  assignment  and
    43  annually thereafter:
    44    (1)  employees  shall be informed of the requirements of this section,
    45  the risk factors in their workplace or workplaces, and the location  and
    46  availability  of  the  written  workplace  violence  prevention  program
    47  required by this section; and
    48    (2) employee  training  shall  include  at  least:  (a)  de-escalation
    49  tactics;  (b)  active shooter drills; (c) measures employees can take to
    50  protect themselves from such risks identified in the  written  workplace
    51  violence  prevention program, including specific procedures the employer
    52  has implemented to protect employees, such  as  appropriate  work  prac-
    53  tices,  emergency  procedures, use of security alarms, panic buttons and
    54  other devices, dealing with harassment and violence from  customers  and
    55  coworkers, and any other risk factors identified pursuant to subdivision
        A. 8947                             3

     1  two  of  this  section;  and  (d)  the  details of the written workplace
     2  violence prevention program developed by the employer.
     3    5. Documentation of workplace violence incidents. Every employer shall
     4  document  each  incident of workplace violence and shall maintain a copy
     5  of such documentation. Each incident  shall  also  be  reported  into  a
     6  publicly accessible state database.
     7    6.  Annual review. Every employer shall review the number and scope of
     8  workplace incidents annually and shall make changes to the risk  factors
     9  considered  pursuant  to subdivision two of this section and the written
    10  workplace violence prevention program as necessary and appropriate.
    11    7. Panic buttons. Every employer  of  fifty  or  more  retail  workers
    12  nationwide  shall  install  panic buttons at easily accessible locations
    13  throughout the  workplace  or  workplaces.  For  the  purposes  of  this
    14  section,  "panic  button" shall mean a physical button that when pressed
    15  immediately dispatches local law enforcement to the workplace.
    16    8. Security guards. Employers who have experienced a certain number of
    17  violent incidents in the workplace in a given period of time, as  deter-
    18  mined  in  regulations  issued  by  the department, shall be required to
    19  employ a security guard who is present at the workplace during all hours
    20  in which the workplace is open.
    21    § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    22  have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
    23  repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
    24  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
    25  on or before such effective date.