Bill Text: NY S08358 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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 22-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-07 - SUBSTITUTED BY A8947C [S08358 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08358-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8358--A

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 22, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  RAMOS,  BRISPORT, CHU, CLEARE, COONEY, FERNANDEZ,
          GIANARIS, GONZALEZ, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HINCHEY, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACK-
          SON, KENNEDY, MAYER, SALAZAR, SERRANO, SKOUFIS, STAVISKY, WEBB -- read
          twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to  the
          Committee  on  Labor  --  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
    22  ten retail employees. The term shall not include the  state,  any  poli-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13440-04-4
        S. 8358--A                          2

     1  tical subdivision of the state, a public authority, or any other govern-
     2  mental agency or instrumentality.
     3    b.  "Retail  employee" means an employee working at a retail store for
     4  an employer.
     5    c. "Workplace" means any location away from  an  employee's  domicile,
     6  permanent or temporary, where an employee performs any work-related duty
     7  in the course of their employment by an employer.
     8    d.  "Retail  store"  means  a store that sells consumer commodities at
     9  retail and which is not primarily  engaged  in  the  sale  of  food  for
    10  consumption on the premises.
    11    2.  Risk  evaluation  and determination. Every employer shall evaluate
    12  its workplace or workplaces to determine  the  presence  of  factors  or
    13  situations  in  such  workplace  or  workplaces  that might place retail
    14  employees at risk of workplace violence. Examples of such factors  shall
    15  include, but not be limited to:
    16    a. working late night or early morning hours;
    17    b. exchanging money with the public;
    18    c. working alone or in small numbers;
    19    d. uncontrolled access to the workplace; and
    20    e. areas of previous security problems.
    21    3.  Written  workplace  violence  prevention policy. a. Every employer
    22  shall develop and implement  a  written  workplace  violence  prevention
    23  policy for its workplace or workplaces that includes the following:
    24    (1)  a  list of the risk factors, such as those identified in subdivi-
    25  sion two of this section, that are present in such  workplace  or  work-
    26  places;
    27    (2)  the  methods  the employer will use to prevent incidents of work-
    28  place violence at such workplace or workplaces, including but not limit-
    29  ed to the following:
    30    (i) making high-risk areas more visible to more people;
    31    (ii) installing good external lighting;
    32    (iii) using drop safes or other methods to minimize cash on hand;
    33    (iv) posting signs stating that limited cash is on hand;
    34    (v) providing employee training; and
    35    (vi) establishing and implementing reporting systems for incidents  of
    36  workplace violence.
    37    b. Every employer shall make the written workplace violence prevention
    38  policy  available  upon  request  to  its  retail employees, such retail
    39  employees'  designated  representatives,  and  the  department.   Retail
    40  employees  shall  be  provided  a written copy of the workplace violence
    41  prevention policy upon hire. The written policy shall  be  available  in
    42  English,  Spanish  and any other language requested by a retail employee
    43  within thirty days of such request.
    44    4. Employee information and training. The department, in  consultation
    45  with  relevant  groups  as deemed necessary, shall produce a model work-
    46  place violence prevention training program. Every employer shall utilize
    47  the model workplace violence prevention  training  program  pursuant  to
    48  this  subdivision  or establish a workplace violence prevention training
    49  program that equals or exceeds the minimum standards  provided  by  such
    50  model  training  program.  The department's model training program shall
    51  include, but not be limited to:
    52    (a) information on the requirements of this section;
    53    (b) examples of measures retail employees can  use  to  protect  them-
    54  selves  when  faced  with  workplace  violence  from  customers or other
    55  coworkers;
    56    (c) de-escalation tactics;
        S. 8358--A                          3

     1    (d) active shooter drills;
     2    (e) emergency procedures; and
     3    (f)  instruction  on  the  use  of security alarms, panic buttons, and
     4  other related emergency devices.
     5    5. All training shall be conducted in English as well as  the  primary
     6  languages  spoken  by  retail employees in the workplace. Every employer
     7  shall  provide  its  retail  employees  with  such  workplace   violence
     8  prevention  training at the time of hiring and annually thereafter. When
     9  providing such workplace violence  prevention  training,  each  employer
    10  shall  also inform their retail employees of the details and location of
    11  the written workplace violence prevention policy developed  pursuant  to
    12  this  section.  Each employer shall include the risk factors specific to
    13  such employer's workplace or workplaces, measures retail  employees  can
    14  take  to  protect  themselves from such risks identified in such written
    15  workplace violence prevention policy, and any  procedures  the  employer
    16  has implemented to protect retail employees.
    17    6. Documentation of workplace violence incidents. Every employer shall
    18  document  each  incident of workplace violence and shall maintain a copy
    19  of such documentation for a minimum of three years after each  incident.
    20  Every  employer  shall  provide  documentation  of such incidents to the
    21  department upon request and  shall  remove  any  personally  identifying
    22  information  from such documentation before delivering it to the depart-
    23  ment.
    24    7. Annual review. Every employer shall review the number and scope  of
    25  workplace  violence  incidents  annually  and  shall  make any necessary
    26  changes  to  the  written  workplace  violence  prevention   policy   as
    27  prescribed by subdivision three of this section.
    28    8.  Panic  buttons.  Every  employer of fifty or more retail employees
    29  employees shall install panic buttons  at  easily  accessible  locations
    30  throughout  the  workplace  or  workplaces.  For  the  purposes  of this
    31  section, "panic button" shall mean a physical button that  when  pressed
    32  immediately dispatches local law enforcement to the workplace.
    33    9. Security guards. Employers who have experienced a certain number of
    34  violent  incidents in their workplace or workplaces in a given period of
    35  time, as determined by the department, shall be required to have a secu-
    36  rity guard present at the workplace during all hours in which the  work-
    37  place is open.
    38    10.  Within    one  hundred  eighty days of the effective date of this
    39  section, the commissioner shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to
    40  implement the  provisions of this section.
    41    § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    42  have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
    43  repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
    44  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
    45  on or before such effective date.