Assembly committee advances heat-safety bill after daylong hearing where labor and business clashed

The Assembly Labor Committee advanced legislation (A5022) to require employers to adopt heat-related illness and injury prevention plans and give the Labor commissioner enforcement powers, voting to release the bill as amended on Feb. 26.

Supporters said the bill fills a gap in worker protections as New Jersey’s summers warm. “Shade, water and rest are not a privilege,” Rutgers student and restaurant worker Rafael Escalante told the committee, summarizing testimony from restaurant, health-care and logistics workers who said they face frequent overheating, dehydration and, in some cases, death when employers do not limit heat exposure or provide basic breaks and cooling measures.

The bill directs the labor commissioner to adopt a rule establishing heat thresholds that trigger employer duties, requires written prevention plans developed with employee participation where feasible, mandates training, and authorizes stop-work orders and monetary penalties for violations. Committee amendments clarified some technical provisions and the effective date, and exempted certain narrowly defined emergency life-safety operations and allowed the Department of…