On February 14, 2025, the New York Retail Employee Security Act, initially set to take impact March 4, 2025, was amended (S.B.740), and the brand new efficient date moved to June 2, 2025.
Background
On September 4, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the New York Retail Employee Security Act (the Act) (S.B. 8358-C/A. 8947-C) into regulation. The Act, which provides Part 27-e to the New York Labor Legislation, requires employers with ten or extra retail workers to develop and implement office violence prevention applications. The regulation additionally mandates employers present coaching on the office violence applications and to put in silent response buttons (SRBs) in retail shops, outlined as shops that promote “shopper commodities at retail and never primarily engaged within the sale of meals for consumption on its premises.”
New York joins a broader pattern of state legislatures enacting legal guidelines to deal with rising considerations of office violence, pushed by the rise in mass shootings, and, within the retail sector, large-scale, coordinated shoplifting and growing confrontations and violence in opposition to retail staff. For instance, on July 1, 2024, California’s Office Violence Forestall Act, which we beforehand coated right here, went into impact and applies broadly to most private-sector California employers with extra necessities for healthcare amenities and different industries with a excessive danger of office violence. Notably, different states have office prevention legal guidelines, although many are particularly targeted on the healthcare sector, equivalent to hospitals.
Key Necessities of the New York Retail Employee Security Act (Incorporating the 2025 Amendments)
Office Violence Prevention Packages
In New York, retail employers should develop and implement applications to forestall office violence by both:
- adopting the mannequin office violence prevention program, which the New York Division of Labor (NY DOL) has been instructed to develop, and which is anticipated to be launched prematurely of the employer implementation deadline; or
- establishing a office violence prevention program that meets or exceeds the NY DOL’s minimal requirements.
Retail Employee Security Coaching & Coverage
Retail employers should present their office violence prevention coverage to retail workers in writing on the time of rent. Coaching may be performed utilizing both the mannequin coaching program to be developed by the NY DOL, or by a personalized program that meets or exceeds the NY DOL’s minimal requirements. The coaching should be interactive and embrace:
- examples of measures retail workers can use to shield themselves when confronted with office violence from clients or different coworkers;
- de-escalation techniques;
- energetic shooter drills;
- emergency procedures; and
- instruction on the usage of safety alarms or buttons and different associated emergency gadgets.
Coaching necessities are specified and range in accordance with employer measurement. Particularly, as amended, the Act requires:
- smaller retail employers – these with between 10 and 49 workers – to supply coaching on the time of rent after which each two (2) years thereafter; and
- bigger retail employers with 50 or extra workers to supply the coaching on the time of rent and yearly thereafter.
The mannequin coverage is predicted to establish sure danger elements for office violence, together with:
- working late evening or early morning hours,
- exchanging cash with the general public,
- working alone or in small numbers, and
- allowing uncontrolled entry to the office.
The NY DOL will difficulty its mannequin insurance policies and coaching supplies in English and the 12 commonest non-English languages spoken in New York, as primarily based on U.S. Census Bureau knowledge.
Silent Response Buttons
Among the many amendments to Act, the requirement for panic buttons alerting regulation enforcement has been changed with silent response buttons (SRBs). However solely massive retail employers with 500 or extra workers statewide should present workers with SRBs to request rapid help from safety officers, managers, or supervisors throughout emergencies. The SRBs could also be:
- put in in an simply accessible office location, or
- a wearable or cellular phone-based button.
Employers ought to be aware that the compliance deadline for SRBs stays January 1, 2027.
When you have questions or want steerage relating to the New York Retail Employee Security Act’s necessities, please contact Squire Patton Boggs’ Labor and Employment group.