California Farm Operators Heat Up Over Heat Violations

Aug 22, 2012

New Heat Safety Bill Strives to Protect Field Workers

A new bill passed yesterday by the California State Senate requires that farmers in California must provide adequate water and shade for farm field workers or face jail time and/or thousands of dollars in fines.

While California already has regulations in place that require growers and operators to protect workers from extreme heat, violations of these regulations are only enforced with civil penalties by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Under the new bill AB2676, violations would be considered misdemeanor offences and punishable by up to six months in jail and a $10,000 fine. If such a violation resulted in injury to a worker, farm operators could face up to a year in county jail and a fine of up to $25,000.

Although this new bill is seen as a victory for California’s 450,000 + farm workers, many in the industry say that the bill goes too far. The new heat safety bill is being backed by the United Farm Workers and The Humane Society of the United States, but there are also opponents to the bill such as the California Farm Bureau Federation and other groups representing growers and agribusinesses.

Some Republican senators have suggested that the bill is offensive to responsible growers and that criminal penalties aren’t necessary when current laws can already be enforced by the state safety regulators.

This is the second bill approved by the California State Senate this week that has raised the eyebrows of some California growers and producers. On Monday, the Senate also approved a bill that would require farm workers to be paid overtime after eight hours of work, or over forty hours in a week. Opponents also suggest that this will cause a loss in farm worker jobs as growers may be encouraged to switch to crops that are easily harvested by machine or require less effort on behalf of laborers.

Since 2005, at least 14 farm workers have died as the result of heat-related causes and 2 deaths this summer are still under investigation.

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