Walmart-opposed new law that would track employees gets green light

A NEW law is set to be enforced in one state despite pushback from Walmart earlier this year.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed off on a bill on Wednesday that is hoped to increase the safety of retail workers.

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The law known as the Retail Worker Safety Act will see major retailers forced to install panic buttons, draw up a violence prevention plan, and train staff in de-escalation techniques.

It comes after a major push by The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) after a surge in violence due to theft.

“From West Hampstead to Buffalo, union workers have suffered grave losses to senseless store shooting,” Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the union said in a statement, per the Democrat & Chronicle.

“Retail workers should not go to work every day in fear, this law goes a long way toward ending that.”

Under the terms of the new law, retailers with over 500 employees across the country will have to install panic buttons in stores in New York.

The button can come in two forms, either a standard button on the wall or under a desk or as part of the employee’s uniform or equipment such as a mobile phone.

When pressed, the button would alert emergency services in the area to an issue and would transmit the location of the employee for local units to be dispatched to, according to the bill.

It is noted that the devices would only track the location of an employee once the panic button has been pressed.

Meanwhile, retailers with 10 or more employees will be required. to draw up violence prevention plans and provide staff safety training.

OPPOSITION

However, the nation’s largest retailer raised issues with the bill earlier this year regarding false alarm triggers while other companies complained about the cost.

In June, Dan Bartlett, Walmart‘s executive vice president of corporate affairs discussed the retailer’s opposition to the bill after it had been passed by the state’s assembly.

“Eight out of 10 times somebody thinks something’s going on, there’s actually not,” he told Reuters.

Bartlett’s comments came three months after the big-box retailer employed its first chief safety officer to overview the safety of Walmart employees.

The National Retail Federation and the Food Industry Alliance of New York State (FIA) had also grouped with other industry figures to reject the plans due to concerns about cost and effectiveness.

“The costly mandates proposed in the bill – including the installation of panic buttons – will do little, if anything, to address recidivists entering stores to engage in illegal activity such as shoplifting and assault,” the lobby group said in a letter in May.

“We stand by the letter and have concerns relative to mandating panic buttons,” FIA CEO Michael Durrant said in a statement to Reuters the following month.

The group also noted concerns from the New York Police Department of Community Affairs Bureau about panic buttons.

In 2019, a New York City council group claimed that phone calls to emergency services provide better and more valuable information about an ongoing incident than panic buttons.

However, despite opposition, eligible retailers will have to install panic buttons by 2027 when that part of the law goes into effect.

The rest of the terms noted in the new law will go into effect 180 days after the bill was signed.

For Walmart, this will impact all of its 98 New York locations and any new stores that open there between now and then.

Meanwhile, major retailers are making other changes to tackle the losses suffered due to increased crime.

Retail theft costs the retail industry over $100 billion a year and is predicted to rise to $140 billion by next year, according to Capital One Shopping.

As a result, retailers have scrapped self-checkouts and introduced item limits, age limits, and big bag bans.

For some, the situation is so bad they have been forced to close down stores and exit particularly troubled areas.

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