State May Make It Illegal To Confront Shoplifters

California state senate last week passed SB 553, which would prohibit retailers from requiring staff to confront people trying to steal.

California’s Controversial Workplace Violence Bill

The California state senate last week passed SB 553 29-8 which would establish new workplace violence prevention standards in the state.

The move comes in response to a rash of incidences where sales associates trying to stop shoplifters has led to escalating situations, sometimes with fatal outcomes.

Passed in the senate, the California bill heads to the assembly, where if passed and then signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, it would authorize labor unions to seek temporary restraining orders on behalf of employees based on workplace violence or credible threats of violence.

It also would prohibit employers from “maintaining policies that require employees to confront active shooters or suspected shoplifters.”

Here’s What The Bill Says

• SB 553 would require every California employer with at least one employee to “establish, implement, and maintain … a workplace violence prevention plan” and “record information in a violent incident log about every incident, postincident response, and workplace violence injury investigation.”
• SB 553 would, among other things, prohibit employers from “maintaining policies that require employees to confront active shooters or suspected shoplifters.”
• SB 553 would authorize labor unions to seek temporary restraining orders (TROs) on behalf of employees based on workplace violence or credible threats of violence.
• If approved by the California State Assembly and signed into law by the governor, the measure would take effect on January 1, 2024, and add Section 6401.9 to the California Labor Code.

The California Chamber of Commerce, however, has reservations about the measure.

“California’s employers—both public and private—should be very concerned about SB 553 because it requires all employers to meet workplace violence standards that exceed even those applied to hospitals under present regulations,” the organization’s policy advocate Rob Moutri said in a statement. “Cal/OSHA staff specifically rejected using the hospital standard for all industries, and have spent years working on a general industry draft that makes sense for all of California’s workplaces. Sadly, SB 553 ignored those years of work and applies the hospital standard—with a few additional provisions—to even the smallest employer in the state.”

California Lawmakers Have Been Busy

California lawmakers have been busy – the Senate has advanced a bill that would raise the minimum wage for healthcare workers to $25 an hour.

The state also passed a bill, narrowly, that will limit police from pulling over drivers for minor infractions like lighting, registration, or license plates.

A bill that would decriminalize the possession of some psychedelic substances passed the California State Senate and now heads to the State Assembly.

The state Senate passed a bill that would update California’s civil rights law to explicitly include protections against discrimination based on a person’s perceived caste.

The California State Senate has passed legislation requiring the state’s two powerful public employee pension funds to stop investing in fossil fuel companies. It would also force them to liquidate close to $15 billion in holdings to aid the nation’s transition to clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas production.

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