NY retail worker safety law takes effect this week. Here’s what it does.

A new law meant to boost on-the-job safety among retail workers across New York goes into effect this week following an uptick in reports of harassment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Retail Worker Safety Act mandates that retail employers with 10 or more employees develop safety programs, including violence prevention plans and training on de-escalation techniques. It also requires employers to conduct active-shooter drills and assess the risk of workplace violence.

Employers with 500 or more workers statewide will be required to install a “silent response button” in the workplace, or provide wearable or phone-based ones, by 2027, so workers can discreetly alert security personnel or supervisors during emergencies. Restaurants and other food businesses that mostly sell food to be eaten on site are exempt from the law, according to the state Department of Labor.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the legislation around Labor Day last year, along with seven other worker-related bills. At the time, she said they would strengthen the state’s “commitment to working families.”

Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which advocated for the law, said it will ensure workers get help quickly in urgent situations.

“Retail workers — and shoppers — across New York will be safer because of this law,” Applebaum said. “Retail workers should not have to go to work every day in fear, and this law goes a long way towards ending that.”

According to a survey conducted by RWDSU, more than 80% of retail workers said they were concerned about active-shooter incidents. Most respondents said they had experienced harassment or intimidation from a customer, manager or co-worker.

The bill’s sponsors, Democratic state Sen. Jessica Ramos of Queens and Assemblymember Karines Reyes of the Bronx, authored the measure to address a rise in violence against retail workers since the pandemic, when workers had to enforce mask and social-distancing rules, according to a memo accompanying the bill.

The memo also cited racially motivated mass shootings at locations like grocery stores, including the deadly 2022 mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket where 10 people were killed.