Make Holiday Shopping Merry: Bracing for the Increased Retail Workplace Violence Risks

Quick Hits

• Retail employers face increased risks of workplace violence during the holiday season due to larger crowds, heightened stress, and potential understaffing, among other factors.
• Retail employers may want to consider steps to mitigate workplace violence risks such as developing a workplace violence prevention plan, training staff, and enhancing security measures during the busy shopping season.

The welcome heightened retail activity can lead to increased stress, longer working hours, and a higher risk of workplace violence. At least one recent study of retail workers in the United States indicated that workers have heightened concerns for their safety during the peak shopping season with hostile customer interactions, theft, and armed robbers among the chief concerns. Further, recent violent escalations such as “smash and grabs” impacting various retailers heighten the risk and concern.

In particular, the holiday shopping season brings large crowds of shoppers that often overwhelm stores and store employees and lead to more interactions with disgruntled customers. To make matters worse, retailers may find themselves understaffed and/or rely on seasonal or temporary staff during the holidays, which further exacerbates safety concerns, especially if the supplemental workforce retailers need during the holidays are not fully trained on all aspects of the workplace.

The General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act and regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state agencies require employers to take reasonable precautions to prevent violence in the workplace, whether between employees or others who enter the workplace.

In addition, new legislation, like the New York Retail Worker Safety Act, emphasizes the importance of proactive safety measures in retail environments. The law, which was enacted in September 2024 after California created new workplace violence prevention obligations for employers, requires retailers to, among other things, conduct assessments of potential workplace violence hazards, adopt written workplace violence prevention policies, and provide workplace violence prevention training.

During this holiday shopping season, retail employers may want to consider taking these steps to mitigate safety risks:

• Developing and maintaining a written workplace violence prevention plan

• Training employees, including seasonal hires, on recognizing the signs of potential violence and the appropriate steps to take

• Investigating all threats and incidents of workplace violence, even those occurring outside of working hours or virtually

• Providing additional security personnel during peak shopping times and installing enhanced security systems, especially to account for known or suspected hazards

• Creating a plan for handling large crowds of shoppers, including crowd control and ingress/egress of shoppers throughout the store

Next Steps

With the holiday shopping season already gearing up and Black Friday approaching, retail employers may want to consider the heightened workplace safety risks. Retail employers may also want to review their current workplace violence prevention plans and policies and assess their security measures.

Ogletree Deakins will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Multistate Compliance, Retail, and Workplace Safety and Health blogs.

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