Public Employee Press

Pataki signs the workplace anti-violence law

District Council 37 has succeeded in its long quest for legislation setting a state workplace violence standard. Gov. George E. Pataki signed the bill, which the Legislature had overwhelmingly approved, into law June 8.

“Protecting workers from increasing workplace violence is a union priority,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, who wrote urging the governor to approve the measure. The victory is especially important for members in violence-prone educational, social services, correctional, health care and mental health jobs.

“We fought hard for this amendment to the labor law, and we are pleased that the governor had the wisdom to sign it,” Roberts said. DC 37 activists and political staff campaigned for the law using lobbying, letter-writing, phone-banking and E-mail.

The legislation mandates for the first time that employers assess their risk factors, such as understaffing, long waits for service, overcrowded waiting rooms, and unrestricted movement of the public, provide written prevention plans and inform workers of risk areas and preventive measures. The law also includes a complaint procedure for employees who feel vulnerable to attacks at the worksite.

Workplace violence, which ranges from verbal abuse to assault and homicide, is on the rise at health care and social services facilities, labor experts said. Homicides are the second leading cause of workplace fatalities in New York State. DC 37 and other municipal employee unions have lobbied City Hall and Albany on the issue for more than a decade. The City Council unanimously adopted a Public Employees Workplace Violence Standard sponsored by Council member James E. Davis in 2003, a month after he was gunned down at City Hall.

Pressing for the state bill, Roberts led a coalition of local presidents that included Charles Ensley, Carmen Charles, Darryl Ramsey, and Eddie Rodriguez. Rodriguez cited the Sept. 11, 2004, shooting and kidnapping of two members at Elmhurst Hospital to the governor “to underscore the severity of the problem.”