Amendments to New York's Retail Worker Safety Act Employers Must Prepare for

On February 14, 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law an amendment to the Retail Worker Safety Act. In a prior blog post, we discussed the Retail Worker Safety Act and its implications on New York retail employers. Below, we examine the amendments modifying the Retail Worker Safety Act.

1. Panic Buttons Replaced With Silent Response Buttons

Originally, the Retail Worker Safety Act stated that retail employers with 500 or more retail employees nationwide were required to provide their retail employees with access to panic buttons throughout the workplace. When pressed, these buttons would immediately contact the local 9-1-1 public safety answering point and dispatch local law enforcement to the workplace. 

The amendments replace these panic buttons with silent response buttons and limit the enforceability of this requirement to retail employers with 500 or more retail employees statewide instead of nationwide. Specifically, the amendments require that retail employers with 500 or more retail employees statewide provide their retail employees with a silent response button that, when pressed, requests immediate assistance from a security officer, manager, or supervisor while the employee is working at the employer's location in case of an emergency. These buttons can be installed in an easily accessible location in the workplace or as a wearable or mobile phone-based button.

2. Model Retail Workplace Violence Prevention Policy and Training Program by the Commissioner

Originally, under the Retail Worker Safety Act, the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) Commissioner had discretion in selecting which languages, in addition to English, to prepare the model retail workplace violence prevention plan and the model workplace violence prevention training program. This selection was based on the size of the New York State population that speaks each language and any other factor that the Commissioner deemed relevant.

Under the amendments, the Commissioner must now provide the model policy and training program to the 12 most common non-English languages spoken in New York State, based on the data in the most recent American Community Survey published by the United States Census Bureau.

3. Workplace Violence Prevention Training

The Retail Worker Safety Act also required that all retail employers provide their employees with workplace violence prevention training upon hire and annually thereafter.

Under the amended law, retail employers with fewer than 50 retail employees must provide workplace violence prevention training upon hire and once every two years thereafter. Implicitly, retail employers with 50 or more retail employees will be required to provide workplace violence prevention training upon hire and then annually.

Effective Date

Prior to the amendments, the effective date of the Retail Worker Safety Act's requirement for retail employers to develop and implement programs to prevent workplace violence was March 3, 2025.

However, the amendments extended the effective date for the aforementioned requirements to June 2, 2025.

The effective date for the panic button, which has been amended to silent response buttons, remains January 1, 2027.

Takeaways

We continue to await the DOL's model policy and training programs. In the meantime, New York retail employers should continue evaluating their workplaces and assess potential risk factors to ensure they can develop the most efficient programs and trainings.

Additionally, larger retail employers should plan to install silent response buttons and implement a system for responding to emergencies.