A new law intended to stimulate safety during employment among retail workers in New York comes into force this week after an increase in harassment reports during the COVVI-19 pandemic.
THE Retail workers safety act requires that retail employers with 10 or more employees develop security programs, including violence prevention plans and training on de -escalation techniques. It also forces employers to perform active shooting exercises and to assess the risk of violence at work.
Employers with 500 workers or more from the state will have to install a “silent response button” at the workplace, or provide “silent response button”, or provide portable objects or by telephone, by 2027, so that workers can discreetly alert safety staff or supervisors in an emergency. Restaurants and other food companies that mainly sell foods to eat on site are exempt from the law, according to the State Department of Labor.
Governor Kathy Hochul signed the legislation around labor festival last year, as well as seven other bills related to workers. At the time, she said they would strengthen “state commitment to workers’ families”.
Stuart AppelBaum, president of the retail, wholesale and department stores, who pleaded for the law, said workers will get help quickly in urgent situations.
“Retail workers – and buyers – in New York will be safer because of this law,” said Applebaum. “Retail workers should not have to go to work every day in fear, and this law contributes greatly to the end.”
According to a survey by RWDSU, more than 80% of retail workers said they were concerned about active shooter incidents. Most respondents said they had harassment or intimidation of a client, a manager or a colleague.
The sponsors of the bill, the senator of the democratic state Jessica Ramos de Queens and the assembly of the Karines Reyes assembly of the Bronx, have the author of the measure to approach an increase in violence against retail workers from the pandemic, when the workers had to apply the mask and the rules of social distribution, according to a note that accompanies the bill.
The memo has also cited mass shots with racial motivation in places such as grocery stores, including Metly 2022 mass shot in a Buffalo supermarket where 10 people were killed.
