N.Y. Labor Law § 27-b: Duty of public employers to develop and implement programs to prevent workplace violence

§ 27-b. Duty of public employers to develop and implement programs to

prevent workplace violence. 1. Purpose. The purpose of this section is

to ensure that the risk of workplace assaults and homicides is evaluated

by affected public employers and their employees and that such employers

design and implement workplace violence protection programs to prevent

and minimize the hazard of workplace violence to public employees.

2. Definitions. For the purposes of this section:

a. "Employer" means: (1) the state; (2) a political subdivision of the

state; (3) a public authority, a public benefit corporation, or any

other governmental agency or instrumentality thereof; and (4) an

authorized agency as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision ten of

section three hundred seventy-one of the social services law that

accepts children adjudicated delinquent under article three of the

family court act.

b. "Employee" means a public employee working for an employer.

c. "Workplace" means any location away from an employee's domicile,

permanent or temporary, where an employee performs any work-related duty

in the course of his or her employment by an employer.

d. "Supervisor" means any person within an employer's organization who

has the authority to direct and control the work performance of an

employee, or who has the authority to take corrective action regarding

the violation of a law, rule or regulation to which an employee submits

written notice.

e. "Retaliatory action" means the discharge, suspension, demotion,

penalization, or discrimination against any employee, or other adverse

employment action taken against an employee in the terms and conditions

of employment.

3. Risk evaluation and determination. Every employer shall evaluate

its workplace or workplaces to determine the presence of factors or

situations in such workplace or workplaces that might place employees at

risk of occupational assaults and homicides. Examples of such factors

shall include, but not limited to:

a. working in public settings (e.g., social services or other

governmental workers, police officers, firefighters, teachers, public

transportation drivers, health care workers, and service workers);

b. working late night or early morning hours;

c. exchanging money with the public;

d. working alone or in small numbers;

e. uncontrolled access to the workplace; and

f. areas of previous security problems.

4. Written workplace violence prevention program. Every employer with

at least twenty full time permanent employees shall develop and

implement a written workplace violence prevention program for its

workplace or workplaces that includes the following:

a. a list of the risk factors identified in subdivision three of this

section that are present in such workplace or workplaces;

b. the methods the employer will use to prevent incidents of

occupational assaults and homicides at such workplace or workplaces,

including but not limited to the following:

(1) making high-risk areas more visible to more people;

(2) installing good external lighting;

(3) using drop safes or other methods to minimize cash on hand;

(4) posting signs stating that limited cash is on hand;

(5) providing training in conflict resolution and nonviolent

self-defense responses; and

(6) establishing and implementing reporting systems for incidents of

aggressive behavior.

5. Employee information and training. a. Every employer with at least

twenty permanent full time employees shall make the written workplace

violence prevention program available, upon request, to its employees,

their designated representatives and the department.

b. Every employer shall provide its employees with the following

information and training on the risks of occupational assaults and

homicides in their workplace or workplaces at the time of their initial

assignment and annually thereafter:

(1) employees shall be informed of the requirements of this section,

the risk factors in their workplace or workplaces, and the location and

availability of the written workplace violence prevention program

required by this section; and

(2) employee training shall include at least: (a) the measures

employees can take to protect themselves from such risks, including

specific procedures the employer has implemented to protect employees,

such as appropriate work practices, emergency procedures, use of

security alarms and other devices, and (b) the details of the written

workplace violence prevention program developed by the employer.

6. Application. a. Any employee or representative of employees who

believes that a serious violation of a workplace violence protection

program exists or that an imminent danger exists shall bring such matter

to the attention of a supervisor in the form of a written notice and

shall afford the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct such

activity, policy or practice. This referral shall not apply where

imminent danger or threat exists to the safety of a specific employee or

to the general health of a specific patient and the employee reasonably

believes in good faith that reporting to a supervisor would not result

in corrective action.

b. If following a referral of such matter to the employee's

supervisor's attention and after a reasonable opportunity to correct

such activity, policy or practice the matter has not been resolved and

the employee or representative of employees still believes that a

violation of a workplace violence prevention program remains, or that an

imminent danger exists, such employee or representative of employees may

request an inspection by giving notice to the commissioner of such

violation or danger. Such notice and request shall be in writing, shall

set forth with reasonable particularity the grounds for the notice,

shall be signed by such employee or representative of employees, and a

copy shall be provided by the commissioner to the employer or the person

in charge no later than the time of inspection, except that on the

request of the person giving such notice, such person's name and the

names of individual employees or representatives of employees shall be

withheld. Such inspection shall be made forthwith.

c. A representative of the employer and an authorized employee

representative shall be given the opportunity to accompany the

commissioner during an inspection for the purpose of aiding such

inspection. Where there is no authorized employee representative, the

commissioner shall consult with a reasonable number of employees

concerning matters of safety in the workplace.

d. The authority of the commissioner to inspect a premises pursuant to

such an employee complaint shall not be limited to the alleged violation

contained in such complaint. The commissioner may inspect any other area

of the premises in which he or she has reason to believe that a serious

violation of this section exists.

d-1. No employee who accompanies the commissioner on an inspection,

participates in a risk evaluation and determination inspection, or

participates in an annual program review shall suffer any reduction in

wages.

e. No employer shall take retaliatory action against any employee

because the employee does any of the following:

(1) makes an application pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision;

(2) requests an inspection as authorized in paragraph b of this

subdivision;

(3) accompanies the commissioner as authorized in paragraph c of this

subdivision;

f. The commissioner may, upon his or her own initiative, conduct an

inspection of any premises occupied by an employer if he or she has

reason to believe that a violation of this section has occurred or if he

or she has a general administrative plan for the enforcement of this

section, including a general schedule of inspections, which provide a

rational administrative basis for such inspecting. Within one hundred

twenty days of the effective date of this paragraph the commissioner

shall adopt rules and regulations implementing the provisions of this

section.

g. Any information obtained by the commissioner pursuant to this

subdivision shall be obtained with a minimum burden upon the employers.

h. When a request for an inspection has been made in a situation where

there is an allegation of an imminent danger such that an employee would

be subjecting himself or herself to serious injury or death because of

the hazardous condition in the workplace, the inspection shall be given

the highest priority by the department and shall be carried out

immediately.