NY Lab L § 27-B (2021)
2021 New York Laws LAB - Labor Article 2 - The Department of Labor 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, provided, however  that  this  subdivision  shall  not  mean  any employer  as  defined  in  section  twenty-eight  hundred  one-a  of the education law; (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.   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.