Eighty-two degrees. Since July 2024, Cal/OSHA’s indoor heat standard, California Code of Regulations, title 8, section 3396, has applied to “all indoor work areas where the temperature equals or exceeds 82 degrees Fahrenheit when employees are present.” At that level employers owe water and cool-down areas, along with training and a written plan. At 87 degrees, or 82 with protective clothing or radiant heat, measurement and control duties begin. Warehouses and commercial kitchens draw the citations, and the same facts can feed wage and retaliation claims.
Which indoor workplaces does section 3396 cover?
Any indoor work area that reaches 82 degrees while employees are there, subject to a few exceptions. Section 3396(a) excludes telework from a location the employee chooses, emergency operations, certain correctional facilities, and “incidental heat exposures where an employee is exposed to temperatures at or above 82 degrees Fahrenheit and below 95 degrees Fahrenheit for less than 15 minutes in any 60-minute period.”
The incidental-exposure exception has its own carve-outs. It doesn’t apply to “Vehicles without effective and functioning air conditioning” or to “Shipping or intermodal containers during loading, unloading, or related work,” under the same subsection. A dock worker unloading a hot container for ten minutes at a time is covered.
“Indoor” is defined broadly. The regulation treats a space as indoor when it’s under a ceiling or covering that restricts airflow and is enclosed along its whole perimeter by walls, doors, or other barriers, “whether open or closed.” A warehouse with its roll-up doors open is still indoors. Areas that aren’t indoor fall under the outdoor standard, section 3395.
What’s required once the temperature reaches 82 degrees?
The baseline duties. Every covered workplace needs drinking water and cool-down areas. It also needs emergency response procedures, heat illness training for supervisors and employees, and a written prevention plan, all of which apply whether or not the 87-degree trigger is ever reached. Employers who assume the rule starts at 87 degrees tend to skip these baseline steps, and an inspector will start there.
Water has to be “fresh, pure, suitably cool, and provided to employees free of charge,” under section 3396(c), with enough on hand for “one quart per employee per hour” if it isn’t plumbed.
Cool-down areas are the requirement employers most often get wrong. Section 3396(d) says the area must be large enough for everyone on a rest or recovery period to sit “without having to be in physical contact with each other,” and that “The temperature in indoor cool-down areas shall be maintained at less than 82 degrees Fahrenheit, unless the employer demonstrates it is infeasible.” A break room that’s as hot as the floor doesn’t count.
Employees can’t be kept out, either. Employers “shall allow and encourage employees to take a preventative cool-down rest in a cool-down area when employees feel the need to do so,” according to the same subsection. A supervisor who discourages those rests creates both a safety violation and a potential wage claim.
When do the measurement and control duties apply?
At 87 degrees, or at 82 in two special situations. Section 3396(a)(2) triggers the full standard when the temperature or the heat index “equals or exceeds 87 degrees Fahrenheit when employees are present,” or when employees wear clothing that restricts heat removal or work in a high radiant heat area and the temperature reaches 82.
Once those conditions apply, subsection (e)(1) requires the employer to “measure the temperature and heat index, and record whichever is greater.” The records have to show “the date, time, and specific location of all measurements,” and they’re kept for 12 months or until the next measurement, whichever is later.
Control measures come in a set order. Engineering controls, such as air conditioning, fans, evaporative coolers, and shielding hot equipment, come first. Subsection (e)(2)(A) requires them to keep “both the temperature and heat index to below 87 degrees Fahrenheit when employees are present,” or below 82 in the special situations, “except to the extent that the employer demonstrates such controls are infeasible.” Administrative controls like work-rest schedules come next, then personal heat-protective equipment.
An employer can skip measurement by assuming the area is above the trigger. That shortcut means the control duties apply at all times, so it suits workplaces that are reliably hot.
What does the written plan need to include?
Procedures for each requirement, in writing and in the workforce’s language. Section 3396(i) says “The employer shall establish, implement, and maintain an effective Heat Illness Prevention Plan,” and that it “shall be in writing in both English and the language understood by the majority of the employees.”
The plan can be part of the employer’s Injury and Illness Prevention Program or combined with an outdoor heat plan. What matters in an inspection is whether the plan matches the facility. A generic template that describes shade structures for a building with no outdoor work, or lists a cool-down room that doesn’t exist, tends to become the centerpiece of a citation.
How does a heat rule violation turn into an employment claim?
In two main ways: premium pay and retaliation. Cal/OSHA’s heat standards call for recovery periods, and Labor Code section 226.7 bars requiring work during a rest or recovery period required by a Cal/OSHA standard. It also requires an extra hour of pay at the regular rate for each workday one isn’t provided. A facility with no usable cool-down area, or supervisors who send workers back early, can face a class claim for those premiums on top of any citation.
Retaliation is the other path. The regulation itself notes that it’s a violation of Labor Code section 6310 and two related sections “to discharge or discriminate in any other manner against employees for exercising their rights under this or any other provision offering occupational safety and health protection to employees.” An employee who complains about heat and is later disciplined will point to that timing.
Temperature records cut both ways in these disputes. Measurements showing the cool-down room was under 82 degrees, and logs of rest breaks taken, are the employer’s best evidence. Missing records leave the case to employee testimony about how hot it felt.
Next steps when a heat complaint or citation arrives
Most heat cases turn on the temperature records and on what the employer did once the readings came in. The firm’s California employment defense page covers how workplace claims like these are handled.
- Preserve the temperature and heat index logs, the written Heat Illness Prevention Plan, training records, HVAC maintenance records, timekeeping and break data, and the emails and texts of the supervisors involved.
- Calendar the appeal deadline on any Cal/OSHA citation and the response date on any complaint or demand, and check for an arbitration agreement and an EPLI policy that requires prompt notice.
- Identify the supervisors and safety staff responsible for the affected area, and make sure the employee who raised the issue isn’t treated differently in assignments or discipline.
- Gather the documents showing what controls were in place, where the cool-down areas were and their temperatures, and when employees took rest and recovery periods.
- Get legal advice before responding to the inspector, settling a citation, or paying premiums, since the admissions in each can affect the others.
Indoor heat rule questions
Does the rule apply to restaurant kitchens?
Yes, if the kitchen reaches 82 degrees while employees are present and no exception applies. Many commercial kitchens hit the 87-degree trigger or qualify as high radiant heat areas near cooking equipment, which brings in the measurement and control requirements. The cool-down area also has to stay under 82 degrees unless that’s infeasible.
Can an employer assume it meets the 87-degree trigger instead of measuring?
Yes. The regulation lets an employer skip the measurement requirement by assuming the work area meets one of the triggering conditions. The tradeoff is that control measures then apply at all times. Employers whose facilities are only hot during summer afternoons usually do better measuring and recording.
Is air conditioning required?
Not in every case. Engineering controls must keep temperatures below the thresholds unless the employer shows that’s infeasible. Fans and evaporative coolers can count, and so can shielding hot equipment. Where they can’t reach the threshold, the employer has to get as close as feasible and then add work-rest schedules and other administrative controls.
Are delivery trucks covered?
Vehicles are treated specially. A vehicle with effective, working air conditioning is exempt from the measurement requirement. A vehicle without it isn’t eligible for the short-exposure exception, so drivers and loaders working in uncooled trucks are covered by the rule.
If your company faces a heat illness claim or citation
If your company has received a Cal/OSHA citation, a premium pay claim, or a retaliation complaint tied to indoor heat, the temperature records and the cool-down practices usually decide how much exposure there is. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents employers defending employment lawsuits and claims through its business litigation practice, including claims involving indoor heat conditions and missed recovery periods. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The regulations are California Code of Regulations, title 8, section 3396 and section 3395. The statute is Labor Code section 226.7.
This post is general information about California and federal employment law as of November 7, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Employment statutes, regulations, and court decisions change often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.