BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 435
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 21, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 435 (Padilla) - As Amended: August 5, 2013
Policy Committee: Labor and
Employment Vote: 6-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill extends existing rest period protections to any
applicable statute, regulation, or order by the Occupational
Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) or the Division of
Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA). Specifically, this
bill:
Applies existing rest period protections to an employee's
recovery period. Defines recovery period as a cooldown period
afforded to an employee to prevent heat illness.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor, absorbable fiscal impact to the Department of Industrial
Relations, OSHSB, and Cal/OSHA to implement this measure.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Current law prohibits an employer from requiring an
employee to work during any meal or rest period mandated by
the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC). If the employer
fails to comply with this mandate, he or she is required to
pay the employee one additional hour of pay at the regular
rate of compensation for each work day this requirement is not
met.
In 2005, OSHSB promulgated heat-related illness regulations,
which establish an additional requirement regarding a rest
period applicable to all outdoor places of employment. Under
these regulations, employees are allowed and encouraged to
take a cool-down rest in the shade for a period of no less
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than five minutes at a time when they feel the need to do so
to protect themselves from overheating. The regulations are
specific as to temperature and the availability of shade and
water.
According to the author, "The state regulations [on heating
illness] require employers to allow and encourage workers to
take a rest break in the shade for a period of no less than
five minutes in order to cool-down and to protect themselves
from overheating. However, workers often do not take these
recovery periods. A 2007 California Rural Legal Assistance
survey of more than 1,000?farm workers laboring in the raisin
harvest found that more than 70% of workers 'voluntarily'
worked through rest periods to avoid losing money."
This bill extends existing rest period protections to any
applicable statute, regulation, or order by OSHSB or Cal/OSHA,
including those related to heat illness.
2)Existing law establishes the following entities:
a) IWC, which delineates the wages, hours and conditions of
labor and employment in the various occupations, trades and
industries in which employees are employed in this state.
Through its 17 industry specific wage orders, the IWC
establishes requirements on hours and days of work, minimum
wages, reporting time, and meal and rest periods, among
others. While the IWC is currently not in operation due to
budget constraints, the DLSE continues to enforce the
provisions of the wage orders.
Each of the IWC wage orders includes a section on rest
period requirements - authorizing non-exempt employees to
take a rest period at a rate of ten minutes per four hours
or major fraction thereof. According to the IWC wage
orders, authorized rest period time shall be counted as
hours worked for which there shall be no deduction from
wages.
b) Cal/OSHA and OSHSB. The California Occupational Safety
and Health Act of 1973 was enacted to ensure safe and
healthful working conditions for all California workers by,
among other things, authorizing the enforcement of
effective standards as well as assisting and encouraging
employers to maintain safe and healthful working
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conditions. Cal/OSHA is charged with enforcing
occupational health and safety laws, orders, and standards,
including the investigation of alleged violations of those
provisions.
OSHSB is a three-member judicial body appointed by the
governor and confirmed by the Senate, which handles appeals
from private and public-sector employers regarding
citations for alleged violations of workplace safety and
health laws.
3)Author's amendment regarding exempt employees . As part of the
August 5 amendments, a subdivision concerning exempt employees
was inadvertently removed from the bill. The author is
requesting to reinstate this language with modifications,
which does not alter the committee's fiscal analysis:
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081