New York will require large retail employers to install panic buttons in the workplace

Retail workers in New York will be entitled to a number of additional safety protections under a law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sept. 5.

NY law mandates panic buttons for large employers. The law, titled the Retail Worker Safety Act, applies to businesses with at least 10 retail employees working in a retail store. Employers covered by the law must adopt a written workplace violence prevention policy detailing factors that may put retail employees at risk of workplace violence, as well as methods to prevent it. The policy must be publicly available on the company’s website, and provided to employees when they’re hired, as well as annually each year thereafter.

Covered employers must also develop a workplace violence prevention training program to comply with the law, which takes effect March 1, 2025. The training must meet a number of requirements, including examples of actions retail employees can take to protect themselves if they face violence from customers or co-workers (i.e. de-escalation tactics or active shooter drills), as well as a list of emergency exits and locations employees can meet if there’s an emergency.

The legislation also requires large employers with 500 or more employees nationwide to install panic buttons in their workplaces, or make them available to workers through mobile phones. These buttons should contact a local 9-1-1 public safety line with information about an employee’s location, as well as dispatch local law enforcement to the workplace. Employers have until Jan. 1, 2027 to comply with this provision.

Retail workers face heightened violence post-pandemic. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union held a rally in Albany earlier this year to voice its support for the legislation Hochul signed. During the Covid-19 pandemic, retail workers were sometimes targeted by customers over masking policies, Retail Brew noted, and these employees have also faced active shooter threats, including the deadly 2022 shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo.

A 2022 Department of Justice report found sales and retail professionals were more likely to be victims of workplace homicide than employees in law enforcement and security. At the time, large retailers including Stop & Shop and Starbucks told HR Brew they were working on updating safety training for their employees in light of concerns about workplace violence.

Walmart, the largest private employer in the US, opposed New York legislators’ move to require panic buttons in retail workplaces, arguing the provision would prompt workers to use them for false alarms.