In February 2024, California State Senator Dave Cortese introduced Senate Bill (SB) 1299. The bill would add section 3212.81 to the California Labor Code to establish a workers’ compensation presumption related to heat illness. The bill is now set for a hearing on April 10, 2024, in the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee.

Quick Hits

• A newly proposed bill would create a presumption that certain heat-related injuries “arose out of and came in the course of employment” if the injuries developed after a worker has been working outside “for an employer … that fails to comply with heat illness prevention standards.”
• The bill applies to employers in the agricultural industry specifically.
• This bill is scheduled for a hearing on April 10, 2024.

The proposed law would establish a California workers’ compensation presumption within the agriculture industry. In particular, if passed, the law would include the following key features:

• If an agriculture employer failed to comply with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health—or Cal/OSHA—“heat illness prevention standards … any resulting heat-related injury” would “be presumed to arise out of and in the court of employment.”
• The bill defines an “injury” as “any heat-related injury, illness, or death that develops or manifests after the employee was working outdoors during or within the pay period in which an employee suffers any heat-related illness, injury, or death.”
• The presumption would be rebuttable, but unless controverted by evidence, the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board would be required to find a heat illness injury.

All California employers are required to comply with the current outdoor heat illness standard, which requires employers to implement a written heat illness plan, which must include “[p]rocedures for the provision of water and access to shade,” a relevant training course, “acclimatization methods and procedures,” emergency response procedures, and a requirement regarding rest periods.