Last Friday, we had a major power outage and our employer kept us more than 3 hours after there was no feedback from the power company. Almost 30 people were left with limited light to find work to do. Is this safe? Shouldn't we have been let go for our own safety returning home? I need to know if there is some law which protects us, so what appears to be in appropriate action, doesn't happen again.

There is no law that dictates when or even if your employer send you home. That is entirely up to them.

Sounds like there should be minimum requirements for the working environment, like light, food, etc.

I see you are not in California, are there specific laws for each state on this issue?

Asked and answered. You don't have to be from a state to know the basic state laws.

Sounds like there should be minimum requirements for the working environment, like light, food, etc.

Not unless the lack of adequate lighting results in an unsafe environment. Short of any OSHA requirements to the contrary (which there are not), the decision is up to the employer.

I work from home and my power was out Friday (due to CA storms). I had to work as I had a landline that worked and the company phones were forwarded to my home (company had T1 and it was down).

Should I have requested that I be able to leave home and go somewhere where there are lights? Seems a little ridiculous. My main responsibility was to answer the phones. Apparently, I can talk in the dark just as well as I can talk with the lights on.;)

I don't think the employer had any obligation to send people home early for the power being out.

Several years ago when CA had rolling brownouts, we had to not only work in the dark, but be prepared to since it was a given that you would be without power at some point.

How do you get sent home when you work from home? That is too funny. :D

I had to work from home, as usual, with the power out. No one asked me to go home or leave home.

My point to OP was it's really no more dangerous to be at work with the power out than home when the power was out.:D Neither one has inherent danger.

I do not have to be from California to know the state laws. In this case, I know that NO state requires an employer to send their employees home in the event of a power shortage. In ALL states, it is up to the employer whether or when to do so.

Agreed, although the argument generally runs the other way. Having employees hang around, not getting much actual work done and having to pay them to not get much done, IMO, does not make much sense. In my experience, employers tend to send employees home quickly to minimize the amount of non-productive time that must be paid for.

If the employer is actually endangering the employees, then of course contact OSHA or the state AG and file a complaint. But I have been in power outage situations before, and the only endangerment that I remember was driving home with the traffic lights out.