BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 435 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 435 (Padilla) As Amended August 22, 2013 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :25-11 LABOR & EMPLOYMENT 6-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Roger Hernández, Alejo, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, | | |Chau, Gomez, Gorell, | |Bradford, | | |Holden | |Ian Calderon, Campos, | | | | |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, | | | | |Holden, Pan, Quirk, Weber | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Morrell |Nays:|Harkey, Bigelow, | | | | |Donnelly, Linder, Wagner | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Enacts provisions of law related to recovery periods, as specified. Specifically, this bill : 1)Provides that, in addition to meal and rest periods, an employer shall not require any employee to work during any "recovery period" mandated by any applicable statute, regulation, standard or order of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Standards Board) or the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). 2)Defines a "recovery period" as a cool-down period afforded an employee to prevent heat illness. 3)Provides that an existing provision of law that requires an employer to pay an employee one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation for each work day that a meal or rest period is not provided also applies to work days that a "recovery period" is not provided. 4)Provides that these provisions do not apply to an employee who is exempt from meal or rest or recovery period requirements pursuant to other state laws, as specified. SB 435 Page 2 FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill will result in minor and absorbable fiscal impact to the Department of Industrial Relations, the Standards Board, and DOSH to implement this measure. COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill is intended to encourage workers exposed to extreme heat to take recovery periods. The California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (one of the sponsors of this measure), writes the following in support: [This bill], as amended, generally treats heat stress-related cool down recovery periods the same way daily rest periods are treated under the Labor Code: Employers would be prohibited from requiring workers to perform any work during any heat stress recovery period and, if the employer failed to provide such a recovery period in accordance with state law, the employer would have to pay the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation for each work day that a recovery period was not provided. The right of workers to be afforded heat stress-related recovery periods to cool down during high heat conditions is established by California Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 3395(d). Although compliance with these requirements is argued to be improving in a number of industries, [DOSH] reported, for 2012, that overall compliance with the heat stress regulation (found during inspections) was only 69% in agriculture and 72% in construction, illustrating that many violations likely continue to occur. (See Cal-OSHA Advisory Committee Report Summaries, June 6, 2013.) Currently, the sole remedy for a violation is a citation issued by DOSH. Given the critical importance of protecting workers from avoidable heat stress illness, and continued limited DOSH enforcement resources, the sponsors and supporters of [this bill] believe it is appropriate to extend to workers the same strong protections from violations of SB 435 Page 3 recovery period requirements as are provided for violations of daily rest period requirements. This will allow both the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and workers themselves to take action if an employer requires work during, or fails to provide, a cool down recovery rest period. Analysis Prepared by : Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091 FN: 0001805