Hotel panic button laws: what hotels need to know

Housekeepers and room attendants spend most of their shift alone behind a guest-room door. Over the past several years, states and cities have responded with laws requiring hotels to give those workers a panic button: a small device they can carry and press to summon help right away.

Where panic buttons are required

• New Jersey was the first state to require them. Its 2019 law covers hotels with 100 or more guest rooms, took effect January 1, 2020, and carries civil penalties of up to $5,000 for a first violation and up to $10,000 for later ones.
• Washington (RCW 49.60.515) requires hotels, motels, retail, security guard entities and property services contractors to give a panic button to each isolated worker, such as housekeepers, room service attendants and janitors. Hotels and motels with 60 or more rooms had to comply by January 1, 2020, and other covered employers by January 1, 2021.
• Illinois’ Hotel and Casino Employee Safety Act requires hotels and casinos to equip employees who work alone in guest rooms, restrooms or on the casino floor with a safety or notification device.
• New York City’s Safe Hotels Act, effective May 3, 2025, makes panic buttons a condition of a hotel’s operating license. The button must let the employee summon on-site help and share their location.
• Cities including Seattle, Chicago, Oakland and Miami Beach have their own hotel-worker protections, so check local ordinances even where there’s no state law.

Michigan isn’t on that list, but major hotel brands have made panic buttons part of their own standards, so many franchised properties need them regardless of state law.

What these laws usually ask for

The details differ, but most rules share the same core expectations:

• Portable and easy to activate. The device is carried by the worker, not mounted on a wall, and works with one press.
• Summons real, on-site help. The alert has to reach a security officer, manager or other staff member who can respond in person, not just make a noise.
• Provided at no cost to the employee and kept working and charged by the employer.
• Policies and training. Many laws also require a written policy, training and notices, and protect workers from retaliation for using the button.

How to choose a system that holds up

• Location you can trust. “Somebody on floor 6 needs help” isn’t enough. Look for room-level location that responders can act on.
• Works without a phone. Housekeepers shouldn’t need a smartphone, an app or cell signal for the button to work.
• Clear routing. Decide who gets the alert by shift and property, and make sure it reaches their phones immediately.
• Records. Keep a log of every alert and response for compliance, insurance and training.
• Low maintenance. Batteries, charging and device checks are where many programs quietly fail.

Where OMNI fits

OMNI Sentinel Plus pairs a wearable panic button with live location and in-room smoke, vape and air-quality monitoring in the same wireless device. When a housekeeper presses the button, the alert goes to the responders you choose with their location, by text, email and the OMNI Cloud dashboard, and every event is logged. Because the same units also catch smoking and vaping in guest rooms, the system pays for itself in more than compliance. Whether a specific setup meets a specific law depends on how it’s configured, so we review your requirements during planning. See the panic button system →

Sources: New Jersey S2986 (2019) as reported by the Associated Press and Safety+Health; Revised Code of Washington 49.60.515; Illinois Hotel and Casino Employee Safety Act; Littler Mendelson and Mondaq summaries of the New York City Safe Hotels Act (2025); Seattle Office of Labor Standards. This article is general information, not legal advice.