The state of California continues to place obligations for preventing employee heat stroke onto employers. In 2015, California heat stroke law clarified that cooldown periods or “recovery periods” must be paid, by state law.
In a series of regulations beginning in 2013 under the CAL-OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Regulations, the state has required all employers with outdoor places of employment to implement a heat stress and heat stroke prevention program that includes providing workers with five-minute cooldown rest breaks in the shade, each hour. Subsequently, the state clarified that employees could not be required to do any form of work during these five-minute breaks. CAL-OSHA says these breaks must be paid, under both federal and state minimum wage laws.