Farm Worker Rights: California Weighs Tougher Heat Rules

With temperatures soaring to triple digits in some areas, precautions to help prevent heat-related deaths and illnesses should be mandatory. Farm workers are entitled to simple protections that could save their lives. There should never be a choice between their lives or supporting their families working in the extreme heat at the risk of their health. With temperatures in the Central Valley recently surpassing 110 degrees and state regulators investigating two possible heat-related deaths in the fields, the California legislature is considering new laws that would strengthen rules for protecting farmworkers from heat.