The Retail Worker Safety Act (RWSA), passed in 2024, requires all retailers who employ 10 or more employees in New York State to adopt a retail workplace violence prevention policy, either their own policy that meets the requirements of the law or adopt the ​New York State Department of Labor’s (NYSDOL) Model Retail Workplace Violence Prevention Policy. A model policy is available on NYS DOL’s website for employer use and customization.

Additionally, employers with 10 or more retail employees must provide workplace violence prevention training to all existing employees, and future employees upon hire. After the initial training, employers with 50 or more retail employees are required to provide retail workplace violence prevention training once a year, while employers with 49 or fewer retail employees must provide training every two years, and employees must also be provided with a written version of the training.

Employers have until June 2, 2025, to implement and administer policy and training programs required by the law; however, since this information was made available late, the Dept. of Labor is focusing on education throughout the rest of this year rather than enforcement.

For details on New York State Department of Labor’s Model Training​​ and Policy, please visit: https://dol.ny.gov/retail-worker-safety