Heat-Related Deaths For Farmworkers Persist And Employers Often Avoid Consequences

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, August 14, 2025…

• This month marks 20 years since California implemented rules meant to protect workers from the heat amid a series of farm worker deaths. But two decades later, many employers still don’t provide workers with the protections they’re owed, enforcement is generally lax, climate change has brought more severe heat waves, and workers continue to die.
• A federal judge in San Francisco heard final arguments Wednesday on whether President Donald Trump’s deployment of troops to Los Angeles this summer violated the law.
• Ventura County supervisors are considering a package of proposals aimed at helping undocumented residents.

Farmworkers Continue To Die From Heat-Related Illnesses, Even With State Laws In Place To Protect Them

In 2005, then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed landmark legislation aimed at protecting workers from the heat. It came after four farmworkers died that summer in heat-related incidents. But 20 years later, farmworkers are still dying while on the job.

The heat safety rules require employers to provide outdoor workers with fresh water, access to shade, and breaks to cool off whenever workers request them. Employers are also required to train supervisors to recognize the signs of heat stroke, and when necessary, to seek medical help.

But reporting from the Los Angeles Times has found that regulators have not been sufficiently enforcing these laws. An investigation from the paper found that California Department of Occupational Health and Safety field inspections dropped by 30% from 2017 to 2023, and the number of violations also fell by more than 40%.

In a report last month, the state auditor also found that Cal/OSHA inspectors regularly failed to take the right steps when workers suffered heat illness on the job. The audit also found that the agency was severely understaffed, and its procedures were out of date. And a Times investigation found that the agency has often failed to penalize companies where heat-related deaths have occurred.

Judge To Rule Whether Trump’s Use Of Troops In LA Violated Federal Law

Attorneys for the state and federal governments gave their final arguments on Wednesday over the legality of President Donald Trump’s ongoing deployment of the National Guard in Southern California.

The three-day court hearing wrapped up the day after Trump announced he could send National Guard troops to other U.S. cities, such as Washington, D.C., and Oakland, to address local crime rates.

Earlier this year, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the Trump Administration over the mobilization of around 4,000 California National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to clamp down on protests against immigration enforcement raids.

Closing arguments hinged on whether the president violated a federal law restricting the use of the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement purposes, the Posse Comitatus Act.

New Calls For Ventura County To Help County’s Undocumented Residents

Ventura County Supervisors are considering proposals to support legal aid and education efforts and to fund a program for migrant children’s education, in the wake of immigration enforcement in the county.