Analyzing the Retail Worker Safety Act from the left, right, and center

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Retail Workers Safety Act (RWSA)— S8358C / A8947C —on September 4. The language of the law notes that New Yorkers who work in retail often face abuse and racism, arguing that violence against retail workers threatens public safety because it can interrupt the availability of essential goods.

RWSA makes retailers with 10 or more employees create workplace violence prevention or reduction programs, with a written policy supplied to everyone who works there. Employers also need staff training—in whatever language those staff members speak—that covers de-escalation, active shooters, and safety tools like panic buttons.

Employers also have to assess vulnerabilities like late-night shifts, understaffing, working solo, handling cash, or past security issues. If they find potential dangers, they have to install better lighting, develop a system for reporting emergencies, or use safes with signage so would-be thieves know that cash registers run with only small sums of money. And employers with over 500 employees also have to install panic buttons that automatically connect with 911.

The law takes effect 180 days after Hochul’s signing, meaning employers have until around March 3 to put safety measures in place. The Department of Labor will also offer a model policy to help businesses comply that would be subject to review every four years.

The Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union ( RWDSU ) said that a survey of their members—retail workers—found:

• Over 80% worry about an active shooter in the workplace
• Nearly two-thirds experienced verbal harassment or intimidation from customers, coworkers, or managers in the past year
• Only 7% said employers made safety changes after a violent workplace incident
• Nearly three-quarters want regular safety training

With violence a growing problem for its workers, the union said it backed the bill to keep workers and shoppers safe. “The preventative measures this law provides will help stop violence and harassment before it starts, but even more importantly, will more safely assist workers in getting help quickly in the event of an emergency,” said RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum.

Even so, while unions and labor organizations from Buffalo to Long Island pushed for the bill, business associations and chambers of commerce came out against it. Since it’s been signed, they have continued to criticize the RWSA, saying that even well-intentioned new mandates amount to new expenses. They also said that it fails to meaningfully protect workers, placing the burden of policing criminals on overworked staff instead of relying on law enforcement to stop retail theft.

“For small businesses already facing economic challenges, this unfunded mandate could spell financial hardship,” said Frank M. Castella, president and CEO of the Dutchess County Chamber of Commerce in May. “It’s unjust to burden businesses with the costs of crime prevention.”

Back in May, the Retail Council of New York State led a coalition including chambers of commerce from across the state—namely the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens Chambers of Commerce, the Capital Region Chamber, and the Greater Rochester Chamber—that wrote an opposition letter to legislative leaders. They think the law unfairly burdens businesses without doing enough to address shoplifting.

“Make no mistake, small businesses will feel the impact of this bill,” said Ashley Ranslow, the director of the New York chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business. “Large, big box retail will be just fine.”

They said that they already protect workers, that training and paperwork can’t stop violence, and that the focus needs to be on stopping criminals without putting pressure on businesses. “The challenges presented by organized retail crime, habitual retail theft, and related violence require an informed, comprehensive response on the part of all stakeholders,” the letter reads. “We continue to strongly and actively support specific initiatives that were included in the FY 2024-25 State Budget .”

The state budget elevated assaulting a retail worker to a felony and let prosecutors combine thefts from multiple stores to file higher larceny charges. It committed $40 million to create dedicated teams among local and state police and at district attorneys’ offices to target habitual offenders and organized shoplifting rings . Hochul’s budget also had a $3,000 small business tax credit for security upgrades like cameras, and it outlawed knowingly selling stolen goods online or in person.

Hochul signed S8305C / A8805C in April. Among several other budget-related provisions, it includes:

• Part A: Physically assaulting any retail worker is a class E felony
• Part B: Knowingly selling stolen goods via website, app, or physical location is a class A misdemeanor
• Part FF: Stealing over $1,000 from retail stores is grand larceny, with the value determined by including multiple thefts

The inspiration for [RWSA] came from the survivors of the Tops Shooting in Buffalo , who shared that they had received no active shooter training, no training on where the emergency exits were, and were completely unprepared,” said a spokesperson for State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who represents Queens Senate District 13 and sponsored the bill. “Public safety is everyone’s responsibility, and we do not feel it is too much to ask for employers to help their workforce understand how to keep themselves safe on a semi-regular basis. It’s the same expectations we have for basic preparedness in schools.”

In November 2023, after Hochul vetoed a bill establishing the New York State Organized Retail Crime Task Force, Melissa O’Connor—the president and CEO of the Retail Council of New York State —said, “Stores that invest in New York communities lose $4.4 billion to retail theft.” That same month, the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) published a report on shoplifting trends . It noted an over 60% spike in retail thefts in New York City since 2019.

CCJ’s Mid-Year 2024 Update featured newer nationwide numbers gathered from 40 cities. Although not focused on New York, it found shoplifting to be the only offense that increased in the first half of 2024. It said that “more investigation is needed to untangle what’s driving the trend and discern how much it may be due to a rise in actual shoplifting or a rise in the rates at which retailers are reporting incidents to law enforcement.”

Conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute said the RWSA misses the mark on deterring retail crime. “The New York State Legislature would do more to keep retail workers safe by amending the 2020 discovery and bail reform laws that have made it impossible to consistently and successfully prosecute shoplifters,” a spokesperson said.

Zooming in on numbers from New York City, the Manhattan Institute counted shoplifting cases from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office . There, theft convictions dropped from 6,714 in 2017 to 154 in 2023. The institute also highlighted statistics from New York City Mayor Eric Adams . He said that, in 2022, “ 327 repeat offenders were responsible for 30% of the more than 22,000 retail thefts across our city.”

“Retail crime cases get tossed so that prosecutors can devote limited resources toward higher level offenses like murders and shootings,” said the Manhattan Institute spokesperson. “Rather than adding another burden on businesses, New York lawmakers should amend the laws that incentivize criminals to victimize stores and their employees over and over and over again.”

According to Sebastian Solomon, the acting director for the Vera Institute’s Greater Justice New York team, “Preventing retail theft and crime overall in our stores is a much better investment in safety than trying to arrest our way out of the problem.” He said that measures like the RWSA support both workers and businesses without simply increasing punishments for shoplifting , which aren’t as effective .

The nonprofit Vera Institute posits that, if poverty drives property crime like retail theft, jailing thieves only them more desperate. Instead, the state ought to connect them with services and treatment . Research into the justice system suggests that spending on healthcare , jobs , wages , and education does more to drive down crime rates than spending on policing.

Solomon also highlighted statistics from New York Police Department Deputy Chief Francis Giordano at a press conference with Mayor Adams. In 2023, “We were down approximately 5% in retail thefts, all three categories, the robberies, the grand larcenies, the petit theft incidents,” he said. “At the same time, we were up about 15% in arrests.”

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