Northern california
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Californians say they were fired for leaving their jobs in sweltering heat. Is the state on their side?
Farmworker Isidro Fierros Hernandez, 68, at City Park in Winters. He is among a group of workers who lost their jobs at a tomato field after they decided to go home early after feeling sick due to the heat. Photo: Laure Andrillon They worked nearly three triple-digit days before it felt unsafe to go on.
Maria Paredes said she already had a headache while working in a tomato field near Dixon on June 5, when high temperatures hit between 99 to 107 degrees. The hotter the next day got, the 40-year-old farmworker said, “the more it started to go back to my head, and I started to feel like vomiting.”
Seeing other workers feeling ill, Paredes and five coworkers said they got their forewoman’s permission to go home early on June 6, during one of the first heat waves this year.
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Wildfire Season in Northern California: Preparing for Power Shutoffs
Power transmission lines in Northern California. During periods of extreme wildfire risk, PG&E may implement Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) to reduce the risk of power lines igniting wildfires. When the mild days of spring are over and the hot days of summer begin to creep in, Cynthia Martinez, a Hayward senior who lives alone near the Hayward Hills, starts to sweat for more than one reason. If the discomfort of hot weather isn’t enough, the idea of possible wildfires and impending power outages turns up the heat on her anxiety.