Responsible Vendor Trainees
THE RESPONSIBLE VENDOR ACT REQUIRES three positions for training and states that they must complete the initial new hire course within 30 days of hire and tri-annual updates every 4 months.
- Servers and sellers of alcohol
- I.D. checkers determining patron’s age
- Managers of 1 and 2 above
You are urged to also include in new hire meetings:
Restaurants and Package Stores: all front of the house staff
Bars and Nightclubs: all staff including bathroom attendants
Hotels:
- Food and Beverage all front of the house
- Bellstaff and Concierge
- Security
- Mini-Bar attendants
- Front Desk (properties with Mini-Bars or other access to alcohol in rooms)
- Any other employee/contractor handling alcohol directly
The reasons for including certain employees is as follows:
Food and Beverage front of the house – employees serving/selling alcohol, I.D. checkers and the managers who supervise both by law must attend initial new hire meeting and tri-annual updates in order to be considered compliant.
Bussers, barbacks, food runners, hosts, cashiers and anybody else working in the front of the house in food & beverage is included in new hire courses because they are working where alcohol is sold and may observe illegal activity or even deliver a drink to a customer.
Bellstaff and Concierge – front of the house and departments which can help prevent illegal activity if they know what to look out for.
Security – often called to food & beverage outlets to assist in handling an intoxicated patron, an underage patron or illegal drug activity on the premises and to write an incident report. Security should also be aware of what to look out for and how to handle certain situations.
Front Desk – often responsible for furnishing access to alcohol by way of minibar keys and therefore must know the laws about the legal drinking age and how to check I.D.
Other – if a hotel employee gives a welcome cocktail to guests upon arrival or at any other time, he should complete alcohol courses.
Hotel managers on duty (MOD) and executive staff may wish to complete the new hire course in order to be better aware of the laws and liabilities about working in a place where alcohol is served, sold and consumed.
Tobacco product sellers – staff responsible for selling tobacco products must complete the new hire course in order to protect the tobacco permit from suspension for sale to underage.
Important rule of thumb: The above are included regardless of how frequently or infrequently they work and regardless of how or if they are remunerated for it. Staff is required whether they are on payroll or not; required positions which are outside contractors must attend.
Never take an employee’s word for it that he has completed the courses in case he is confused about which courses they were, who provided them and whether they’ve expired; allow us to verify employee attendance for you.