The New York Retail Worker Safety Act: Key Insights for Employers

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Karen Tynan: Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Ogletree Deakins Podcast. My name is Karen Tynan, and I’m a shareholder in the Sacramento, California office, and co-chair of the Workplace Violence Prevention Practice Group here at Ogletree. Here with me today is another member of that amazing practice group, Stefan Borovina from our New York office. We are talking about the New York Retail Worker Safety Act, an important topic for New York employers.
Stefan, let’s get started. Can you give us an overview of the Act’s, procedural history amendments, and the effective date to start us out?

Stefan Borovina: Sure. The Act was first proposed in the New York State Senate in mid-January of 2024, and it was followed very quickly thereafter with the same-as bill by the New York State Assembly. And this was an early sign that there was a lot of support in the legislature for this act. The act, in its first iteration, was passed and signed into law on September 5th, 2024. But when Governor Hochul signed the act into law, she included with it an approval memo, which would discuss an amendment. And that would’ve changed not only the effective date, but a few other key aspects in the law.
And then, in early 2025, the legislature in New York state, they proposed this amendment. And this was signed by the governor on February 14th, 2025. One of the most important aspects of this amendment was the modification of the effective date. Under the original act, the effective date was March 4th, 2025. But with the amendment, it extended the time for employers to comply. And the effective date is now June 2nd, 2025, just about 45 days away.

Karen Tynan: Okay. We’re recording this in April, and people really seem to be trying to get compliant. And I think a very basic question, and it sounds overly simple, is how do I know if I’m retail? So, how does a business know if they meet this New York definition of retail?

Stefan Borovina: Sure. I think this is probably one of the most common questions that I’ve received working with our clients and other employers with respect to compliance and the act. The New York law, different from California’s law, for example, pertains only to retail employees. The first question is, how does an employer know if they’re in fact a retail employee? A retail store, rather. Unfortunately, the language of the law itself is a little bit vague. It just defines retail, it defines what a retail employee is, but it still leaves a little bit to be desired in terms of discussing exactly what an employer would have to do in order to be covered under the act. Under the plain meaning of the language in the law, it discusses retail stores, who sell commodities at retail.
A commodity under the plain definition refers to a substance, a product, or some type of good that’s bought, traded, or sold. This tends to be something physical as opposed to something non-physical, such as a service. Right there, that’s one determination. But with respect to retail, what does retail actually mean? The word is defined in the dictionary as the activity of selling goods to the public, usually in small amounts for their own particular use. Again, this isn’t exact, but it provides some guidance to employers. For example, you could contrast this to an employer who’s selling goods in larger amounts, perhaps to other businesses or entities for resale. The retail aspect really refers to end users of a particular good or service.
But another way to determine whether or not an employer’s retail would be covered under the act would be to look at your NAICS code. And if you’re not familiar with that, that’s the North American Industry Classification System. And retail trade employers are classified with numbers beginning with either a 44 or 45. And these are establishments generally selling merchandise, generally without transformation of that merchandise. If you go back to your NAICS code and you’re with a 44 or a 45, chances are you’re going to be considered retail and likely covered under the act.

Karen Tynan: Okay, that’s super helpful. And I know I’ve seen this question from some businesses. What if I’m this hybrid workplace with both retail and non-retail employees working together? What do you think about that, Stefan?

Stefan Borovina: Yes. I think many employers are not going to be so cut and dry as either retail or non-retail, or many employers are going to have the type of business where they might have a service, but they also might sell goods, merchandise, or something like that. Covered employers, first of all, you need 10 or more retail employees within your establishment. You might have a business, such as a bank or another service provider, where your main business is providing that service. But at one or more of your locations, you’re also selling goods or merchandise incidental to that service. Not just like a bank, but maybe a shipping store. A customer may go into that store to mail packages or ship goods, but that store also sells products incidental to that shipping, including boxes, tape, packaging materials, things like that. Under the law, as it’s written now, if you have 10 or more employees who are engaged in that retail end of your business, you’re likely going to be considered retail and covered and a covered employer under the act, even if you also provide services at that location.

Karen Tynan: Okay, that’s very helpful for those types of hybrid businesses. With this loss requirement for a workplace violence prevention program, what do these New York employers have to include in the workplace violence prevention program?

Stefan Borovina: This is another very common question I’ve been receiving, especially when you have employers who are also looking at other state laws with respect to workplace violence, such as the California Workplace Violence Prevention Law. Because the New York Retail Worker Safety Act, it leaves a lot for employers to add in to the program, and really only has a few specific requirements, but then puts it on the employer to make sure that they’re also covering any other aspects that might be unique to their business.
First and foremost, the program has to be written. I think that’s fairly obvious. But the next thing is that the act has to contain information on the factors of situations that, first and foremost, might place a retail employee at risk of violence. And while the act itself doesn’t specifically say this, employers are going to want to look at the potential for violence both by coworkers or by members of the public. And in describing the factors and situations, the language of the law only requires four specific factors of situations, and those are working late at night or in early morning hours, exchanging money with the public, working alone or in small numbers, and then also where there’s uncontrolled access to the workplace.
Now, these are pretty limited situations in terms of what the act is requiring, but I think it speaks to the theory behind the law and what employers should be looking at when crafting their workplace violence prevention program. For example, we’re talking about employees who are working late at night or in early morning hours, this highlights the workplace violence prevention for vulnerable employees. When you’re working late at night, early morning hours, there might be less law enforcement, there might be less witnesses, and that could be more inviting for workplace violence either from a coworker or a member of the public.
Same thing with employees working alone or in small numbers. That, again, goes to employee vulnerability, and that’s something the legislature wanted retail employers to consider in their prevention program. Again, exchanging money with the public. This goes to how attractive of a target could your workplace be. If you’re cash business and you’re exchanging cash, that could make you a target for a robbery or something like that. And again, finally, with uncontrolled access to the workplace. This goes to generally speaking, what is the physical security at your workplace? And that’s what employers should be considering when crafting this program for its employees. How secure is your physical location? All these things taken together is what employers need to consider and put into their program when addressing workplace violence.
Now, aside from the factors and situations, the written workplace violence prevention program also has to address prevention methods that employees can utilize with respect to workplace violence. The only one, or the only method that is specifically stated and required in the law is a reporting system for incidents of workplace violence. I think the theory behind this is that if employers track and report and monitor potentials for workplace violence, or excuse me, incidents of workplace violence, it is going to allow these employers to know what’s going on at their workplace and prevent things from happening in the future so it just doesn’t go unnoticed.
But aside from this mandatory, or the one mandatory method required in the act, there’s others that employers can consider to include in their program. This would be, for example, recognizing warning signs of workplace violence. So, what kind of factors and situations, again, like we discussed above, could make a store or an employee or a situation more vulnerable to workplace violence? De-escalation tactics, which could include how to address customers, how to address coworkers, really using that verbal judo to de-escalate a situation and prevent workplace violence from happening. Because they say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I think that’s definitely contemplated for the workplace violence prevention program here.
Now, aside from these first two factors, the factors and situations and the prevention methods, there are a few other requirements that the written program must have. There must be a section on what remedies are available to victims of workplace violence. And based upon the law as written, this could be as simple as just providing some hotlines or reference websites or numbers with respect to advocacy groups or support groups for workplace violence. But I think one of the most important requirements is the anti-retaliation language, and this is specific language that must be included in the written workplace violence prevention policy that prohibits retaliation against anyone or any employee who either complains of workplace violence, complains of the presence of factors or situations that might place an employee at risk of violence. And then, also prohibits retaliation against anyone who testifies or assists in any proceeding related to investigation or enforcement against workplace violence.

Karen Tynan: Wow. Okay. It sounds like it’s a very robust program requirements. And I know that there was information put out that New York State would have model templates. What’s the deal with that, with these New York state model templates and how they would be updated or changed, things like that, Stefan?

Stefan Borovina: Sure. When the language of the act first came out, and the act was finally passed, I think a big consideration was that the state was going to producing model templates both for its workplace violence prevention policy, as well as a training program for how employers can train its employees on workplace violence prevention. I think this generated a lot of interest because I think it was thought that the templates would be released before the act goes into effect, or before the compliance date. But here we are, we’re about 45 days out, and that hasn’t happened yet. It appears these model templates that haven’t been released present to tricky issues for employers. They want to be in compliance as of the effective date, and they don’t want to wait until June 1st or June 2nd to get their program and get their training requirements up and running.
But also, the model template as we see now, it may not have all of the considerations that employers who are being proactive in workplace violence, that they want to consider. The model template might give you the bare minimum needed for compliance, but it’s not necessarily going to contain what a specific retail employee would need to onboard its employees with respect to its workplace violence prevention policy and then adapt to any existing rules.
One thing that I think the model templates will be very helpful for is evaluating future trends with respect to workplace violence. Unfortunately, workplace violence has been growing over the years, and continues to grow. And how it’s addressed and how it’s prevented could change in the future. The law contains provisions that starting in January of 2027, and then every four years thereafter, the Department of Labor will be reevaluating its model templates, and it’s updating its current prevention program, and then its training. And this is significant. Because while the law itself and the requirements, the law likely is not going to change, these templates are going to reflect the trends and considerations that retail employers are going to want to be aware of in the coming years.

Karen Tynan: That’s very, very helpful, because that is also a question I’m seeing about templates and compliance. But that leads us to another question about compliance for multi-state employers, or people that see the California program and the written programs and templates. Can employers simply use a program from another state, like California, and apply it to New York, kind of a square peg in a round hole? Can that work?

Stefan Borovina: I think this is a question of can you versus maybe whether or not employer should. There’s nothing in the law that would prevent an employer from using an existing program, such as California or another state as they begin to be released. However, the New York State, first and foremost, is dedicated solely to retail employees. And also, it has very specific requirements. I think while it’s robust, the requirements themselves are a bit more limited than, for example, say California. While there’s nothing prohibited an employer taking the California program and modifying it to fit New York, I think employers want to consider just how they’re going to do that.
First and foremost, you actually want to make sure that you’re covering all of the requirements under the New York law. While there are not many specific requirements, there are boxes that the program has to check off and that the training has to check off. So you want to make sure that employers want to make sure that they are complying with this when bringing their program over to fit New York. But another consideration is you want to make sure, or at least consider, whether you’re going too far overboard of what is required by the New York Retail Worker Safety Act. For example, California’s workplace violence prevention law, it’s not specifically applicable to retail employees; it’s much more broad. And I think as such, a lot of the specific requirements are more broad. That’s something that employers are going to want to consider. Because they don’t want to necessarily… Or they want to consider not making it a one-to-one application, taking all of their compliance requirements in the California and just transmitting to New York, because you could be going too far above and beyond of compliance.

Karen Tynan: You mentioned training as there being some differences, so let’s figure it out for these New York employers. When does the training need to be completed?

Stefan Borovina: Yes, I think that is a very important question that employers have been asking. Because we know the effective date is June 2nd, 2025. We know from the law that training program has to be implemented and employees have to be trained with respect to workplace violence prevention. However, a common question that I’ve been seeing is whether or not that training has to be completed by June 2nd, 2025, which is the effective date. And I think the answer to that question is, there’s nothing in the act itself that requires the training to be completed by June 2nd. Instead, June 2nd is the compliance date, the effective date. That is when all the training requirements go into effect.
Practically speaking, this means that employers are covered employers under the act. They’re going to have to have their training program up and running by June 2nd, and then once that date comes as of June 2nd, they’re going to want to train their employees according to the actual requirements, which right now are upon hire. So, each employee upon hire. And then also annually. And again, this is retail employees. The training requirements only apply to retail employees. The training must be given to each retail employee upon hire, and then annually.
But this is another area where the amendment did modify a little bit. Under the amendment, covered employers with less than 50 retail employees only need to conduct their training for their employees upon that employees hire, and then every other year as opposed to annually. But when thinking about that number, 50 retail employees, some other sections discuss statewide or local requirements. The language under the amendment is simply employers with less than 50 retail employees. As the law is currently written, it means that if an employer has 50 or more retail employees, period, it’s not location or state dependent, then they’re not going to be able to take advantage of this particular requirement. They’re going to have to conduct their training upon hire and then annually as the act originally suggested.

Karen Tynan: That makes sense to me. Now, does this training for New York retail workers need to be site specific?

Stefan Borovina: That’s a great question. And again, we’re going to be looking at what the act requires versus what employers may want to consider. And the only site-specific requirements in the language of the act is the requirement to, as part of the training program, to provide a list of emergency exits or meeting places. Or really, to communicate the site-specific list of emergency exits and meeting places. And practically speaking, what does this mean? It doesn’t mean that employers are going to have to provide different training for each specific location. Rather, I think employers can conduct their training according to their normal workplace violence training program that they have prepared. And then, part of that training can discuss how each location will have information on the emergency exits and meeting places specific to that location, and how employees can access that information that’s available at the location.
The specific information on the exits and the meeting places can then be provided at the location itself. For example, it could be a map in the location itself that employees are able to see. It could be information provided specifically by supervisors to those employees at the specific location. But that is really the only site-specific aspect to the training. While that’s the only requirement, I think employers may want to consider some, not necessarily site-specific training, but what types of environments different locations may present that might make some training more applicable to some areas and to others.
For example, an employer may have two retail locations, one in more of a higher crime rate area than others. Employers would want to consider including in that training how a higher crime rate area might differ than a lower crime rate area. Because a higher crime rate area employees might need a different level of awareness. There might be different times of the day, different factors of situations that could make workplace violence or the risk of workplace violence more prevalent than a lower crime rate area, or something like that.

Karen Tynan: Okay. Now, speaking of training, and this is another area with some difference in California and New York, what about the active shooter training? Are there requirements that it has to be live or in person? Are there drills or simulations? What is required with this active shooter training?

Stefan Borovina: I think this is a very important question that employers have been considering. Especially because, again, unfortunately active shooter incidents have been on the rise over the years, and it’s a very serious concern that employers and employees unfortunately have to be aware of. And as such, with the rise of active shooter incidents, there’s a lot of training programs, live in-person type training that can be provided. But the question is, does the law, the New York Retail Worker Safety Act, require that those type of live or in-person drills?
And the answer to that question is, again, under the law as it’s currently written, the answer to that question is going to be no. The language under the law requires that workplace violence training has to be interactive. However, there’s no specific language that require drills, in-person training, or anything similar to that. While there’s no specific guidance, and the model templates haven’t been released yet, as to what the training, and specifically the active shooter training, would have to entail. Based upon the language of the law, the interactive requirement, this can likely be satisfied by providing training that is most importantly going to be keeping your employees engaged.
The legislature in promulgating and putting this act into law, they wanted to make sure that employees didn’t just receive a copy of the program, but they understood it. They didn’t just receive the training and click through it, just click next, next, next, and not pay attention to what’s going on. The legislator wants to make sure that employees are engaged and absorbing the workplace violence prevention training that they’re being given. Because unfortunately, if there is an instance of workplace violence at a particular location, you want to be able to rely on that training. The legislature wants to make sure that employers are making sure that its employees are paying attention.
What does this mean? Interactive requirements can likely be satisfied by things like question and answers on your training, surveys. Or some type of clickable interface that is going to require an employee to interact with the program, be it a slide or program, something like that, before moving on to the next section. This is going to ensure that employees are reading and absorbing the information, and that’s going to make sure it’s on their mind, in the back of their mind. God forbid there is a workplace violence incident, they’re going to be able to rely on that training.

Karen Tynan: You were talking about interactive. I like how you highlighted that, because that is another one of my top questions. People want to know, what does interactive mean? Let me ask you this. There was quite a bit about panic buttons, Stefan. And panic buttons are not required in California, but employers could choose to utilize panic buttons. What happened with that element of the act?

Stefan Borovina: Yes, absolutely. The panic button requirement, as soon as the proposed law was being discussed by the legislature, the panic button was, no pun intended, but a hot button issue. I think first and foremost, employers were concerned about compliance. Having a panic button that instantly contacted law enforcement, and would have law enforcement or first responder come to the workplace or respond to workplace violence incident. There were a lot of compliance questions and concerns, not just by employers, but honestly, I think also by law enforcement. And as a result, when the amendment passed in February of this year, the panic button requirement was actually removed. Well, it was removed, but it was replaced by something similar. The panic button requirement is now entitled the Retail Worker Request for Assistance requirement.
And first and foremost, it’s who would be covered by this requirement? Well, with panic buttons in the first version of the law, it applied to employers with 500 or more retail employees nationwide. The amendment now makes retail worker requests for assistance requirements apply to employers with 500 or more retail employees statewide. And I think that’s already a big difference in terms of covered employers with the nationwide requirement versus statewide. I think that’s number one.
But number two is the panic buttons are now being replaced with what’s called silent response buttons, or SRBs. The biggest difference with these silent response buttons is that where a panic button would directly contact law enforcement or first responder, the silent response button does not. And honestly, I think this was changed in consideration of the fact that panic buttons, whether they’re used appropriately or perhaps maybe abused, I think the potential to overwhelm law enforcement or first responders was very real and very significant.
If first responders and law enforcement had to address not just 911 calls, but also notifications from retailers about a potential workplace violence incident, the risk of false alarms, the risk of mistakes would easily overwhelm law enforcement, create mistakes, and actually hinder the workplace violence prevention effects that the requirement was contemplating. Silent response buttons, rather than contacting law enforcement, they will immediately request assistance from either a security officer, manager, or supervisor located at the retail location. I think this creates a very important buffer in the overall process, because now it alerts a supervisor, so it’s going to alert a member of management as to a potential workplace violence incident. And that a security officer, manager, or supervisor can then make the appropriate judgment call to contact law enforcement via 911, or first responder, or take additional action. I think that right away is big, not just for retailers, but also really for law enforcement who would be expected to assist in these calls.
Aside from that, the silent response button requirements are fairly similar to what was required with the panic buttons. The silent response buttons have to be installed in an easily accessible location, or they can be mobile phone-based. And I think the key here is the law requires that they be provided to every retail employee. So, if retail employers are not providing mobile phone-based buttons, they may need to consider having more than one button available at their workplace to ensure that it’s easily accessible for all employees. And I do think that there was concerns with retail employees and employers with respect to mobile phone-based buttons. You don’t necessarily want a button on your mobile phone. But there’s specific rules that will apply to this. The mobile phone requirement, the mobile phone button can only be installed on employer-provided equipment. And most importantly, it can’t track employees except when it’s actually triggered. The law does contemplate these protections to make sure that employers are not going to be overly intrusive with its employees, but also ensure that the silent response button provides the protection and the prevention for workplace violence that’s contemplated.

Karen Tynan: Wow, that is so much detail. I really appreciate that. Now, we’ve got tons of different aspects of compliance. Here’s my last question, Steph, after all this. How do these New York retail employers comply with the act’s notice requirements? How does that work?

Stefan Borovina: Sure. The notice requirements is the third pillar of compliance under the act. We have the written workplace violence prevention program, we have the workplace violence training, and then finally, we have the notice requirements. The notice requirements, they require covered employers to give all of their retail employees a notice about its workplace violence prevention policy, which would include a copy of the workplace violence prevention program, and the information that’s presented at the employer’s workplace violence training. And note, it’s not the training itself, the training has to be conducted separately. The notice has to contain the information provided or presented in that training program.
Where it gets a little bit tricky are the language requirements with respect to this notice. Employers, under the law, are required to provide their notice in English as well as the language identified by each employee as that employee’s primary language, assuming it’s other than English. And this can get tricky. Because obviously, New York, there’s a multitude of different languages that are spoken, and employers are going to have to pay attention to whether or not their employees are designating a non-English language as their primary language, because that triggers some compliance requirements with that covered employer.
Now, this does go back to the model templates. Because the Department of Labor is going to be preparing these model templates not only in English, but also in the 12 most common non-English languages spoken in New York State. And this is actually the information taken from the Census Bureau, and that’s how they’re going to determine what the 12 most common non-English languages in New York State are. If the Department of Labor has this template in another language, employers can use that template, that notice template to provide their information. However, if an employee identifies a primary language that’s not covered by one of the templates, not one of those 12 most common languages, a covered employer can comply with the notice requirement by providing the notice in English. Essentially, to sum up, the employer has to provide the notice in English, or in one of the 12 most common non-English languages. But if an employee identifies a language other than that, the employer can comply by again providing that notice in English.

Karen Tynan: That is very helpful, Stefan. We’ll close out and say thank you for listening to Karen and Stefan today in this amazing podcast about the New York Retail Worker Safety Act. Also, look for the blog articles about this act on ogletree.com. Check out our practice page, the Workplace Violence Prevention Practice Group on the same website, and look for webinars on this topic too. Thanks for listening.

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