A California bill that would create a presumption of compensability for farmworkers who file heat-related workers compensation claims is unlikely to improve agricultural worker safety and may even create additional challenges for employers, the California Workers’ Compensation Institute said Monday.
Senate Bill 1299 would likely “create more challenges than it would solve,” and is likely to result in “significant administrative friction costs,” the CWCI said in a news release.
The organization analyzed more than 3.2 million claims filed by California workers between 2019 and 2023 and found that only 659 of the 100,777 claims filed by farmworkers were heat-related.
“The small percentage of claims involving heat illnesses likely reflects the success of Cal/OSHA’s outdoor heat illness prevention standard,” the CWCI wrote.
That standard requires employers to offer workers access to shade and water and monitor employees who are still acclimatizing to heat, among other requirements. It was implemented in 2005.
The CWCI cited a recent UCLA study that found farmworker heat injuries “largely ceased” after Cal/OSHA adopted its heat standard.
Agricultural workers already have a lower workers comp claim denial rate than other outdoor occupations covered by California’s heat standard, the CWCI said.
The organization said the bill would also cause adjudication issues, since it would shift the initial determination of heat-related violations from the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board to the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, which has a “lack of subject matter expertise” on the issue.
