BILL ANALYSIS �
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 Hern�ndez, 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