New York Set to Amend Law Addressing Retail Employee Workplace Violence Prevention

Seyfarth Synopsis: A workplace violence prevention law passed by the New York State legislature in June 2024 and signed into law by the Governor in September 2024 with certain provisions set to take effect in March 2025 has been amended. Although the amended legislation will still require that employers establish a “workplace violence prevention policy” and provide workplace violence training to covered employees remains, the previous requirement to provide employees with a “panic button” that dials 9-1-1 has been replaced with a provision instead requiring only that the buttons alert workers’ supervisors or a security officer.

As previously detailed here, on September 5, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill (Assembly Bill A8947C) that would have imposed significant workplace violence prevention requirements on retail employers effective March 3, 2025. The law specifically indicated a separate effective date—January 1, 2027—for the “panic button” requirement to allow employers more time to prepare for implementation.

Recently, the legislature passed amendments to the forthcoming law, changing all references from “panic” buttons to “silent response” buttons and removing the requirement that the buttons must immediately dial 9-1-1, instead requiring that the buttons reach covered employees’ supervisors or on-site security staff.

The amended law, which is now pending Governor Hochul’s signature, will be effective 270 days following enactment—a change from the initial 180-day period before effectiveness. Thus, the law will be effective on June 2, 2025.

Proposed Amendments to Law: “Silent Response Buttons,” New Effective Date

The amendments, currently awaiting the Governor’s signature, change a few key aspects of the law, as detailed below.

Effective Date. Much of the forthcoming law will be effective 270 days following enactment—a change from the initial 180-day period before effectiveness. Thus, the policy and training provisions of the law will be effective on or about June 2, 2025, instead of March 2025. The silent response button requirements will still take effect on January 1, 2027.
Training Cadence for Smaller Employers. The amendments ease the cadence by which employers of fewer than 50 employees must provide workplace violence prevention training. The amendments require that such small employers provide trainings upon hire and once every two years thereafter (differing from the upon hire and annual training requirement for all other covered employers with 50 or more employees).
“Silent Response” Button. The amendments to the law change all references to “panic” buttons to “silent response” buttons. In addition, instead of requiring immediate notification of 9-1-1 when pressed, the amendments require “immediate assistance from a security officer, manager, or supervisor while the employee is working at the employee's location in case of an emergency.” Buttons still must be “a device that is installed in an easily accessible location in the workplace, or a wearable or mobile phone-based button.”
Languages for Model Policy. The amendments direct the Labor Commissioner, in crafting a model policy, to determine the “twelve most common non-English languages spoken by limited-English proficient individuals in the state, based on the data in the most recent American Community Survey published by the United States Census Bureau and published online by the New York state office of language access.”

The pending amendments do not meaningfully change most employers’ obligations under the forthcoming law. However, the change from “panic” buttons to “silent response” buttons provide covered employers with a few options that did not exist before, removing the requirement to dial 9-1-1. The amendments also provide employers with three more months to prepare for compliance with the policy and training requirements of the forthcoming law.

The model policy to be developed by the New York Department of Labor, and other informational materials, will be available at this webpage.

Please reach out to the authors of this alert or another Seyfarth contact if you wish to discuss these developments.