Legislators Propose Bills to Address Employee Injury Due to Shoplifting

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Legislators Propose Bills to Address Employee Injury Due to Shoplifting

11 Sep, 2023 Liz Carey

Sacramento, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) – As retailers grapple with how to protect employees from shoplifters, legislators are working on bill that would protect workers from workplace violence due to theft.

Legislators in the California Assembly nixed a provision of S.B. 553 that would require businesses to have anti-violence strategies. The bill, retailers said, would have made it illegal for workers in retail stores to stop shoplifters. ... The provision was removed, officials said, when businesses complained that the proposed legislation would prevent them from having any employee, even security guards, stop shoplifters. Businesses said the bill essentially left them without any security.

Incidents of employees injured, or even killed, seem to be on the rise. Retailers are reporting increases in the number of thefts. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), retail stores reported losing more than $94 billion in 2021 because of theft and other shrinkage factors. Organized retail theft – when groups of shoplifters act in unison – was up 26.5 percent, a survey by the NRF found, with 80 percent of those surveyed reporting that violence and aggression associated with organized event was also up.

In late July, an employee at an Overland Park, Kansas store was injured when two people took merchandise from the store without paying, officials with the Overland Park Police Department said. ... According to police reports, the coordination between two suspects was caught on video. Surveillance video shows one suspect leaving the store with a box full of merchandise that officials said they didn’t pay for. When an employee goes to the door to take pictures of the suspect as they left, another suspect with another box of merchandise runs into the employee knocking them down and then leaves the store. ... Police said the incident left the employee with a fractured arm. Officials are looking for three suspects – the two inside the store and another driving a white Dodge Avenger with Missouri plates.

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About The Author

Liz Carey has worked as a writer, reporter and editor for nearly 25 years. First, as an investigative reporter for Gannett and later as the Vice President of a local Chamber of Commerce, Carey has covered everything from local government to the statehouse to the aerospace industry. Her work as a reporter, as well as her work in the community, have led her to become an advocate for the working poor, as well as the small business owner.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Real customers buy on Amazon. Thieves go to bricks and mortar stores.

I am wary of going to the store.