§ 8-13.3-405 — Additional paid sick leave during a public health emergency

Colorado § 8-13.3-405

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 08: Labor and
• Art.: Family and Medical Leave

Text

(1) In addition to paid sick leave accrued under section 8-13.3-403, on the date a
public health emergency is declared, each employer in the state shall supplement
each employee's accrued paid sick leave as necessary to ensure that an employee
may take the following amounts of paid sick leave for the purposes specified in
subsection (3) of this section:

(a) For employees who normally work forty or more hours in a week, at least
eighty hours;

(b) For employees who normally work fewer than forty hours in a week, at
least the greater of either the amount of time the employee is scheduled to work in
a fourteen-day period or the amount of time the employee actually works on
average in a fourteen-day period.

(2) (a) An employer may count an employee's unused accrued paid sick leave
under section 8-13.3-403 toward the supplemental paid sick leave required in
subsection (1) of this section.

(b) An employee may use paid sick leave under this section until four weeks
after the official termination or suspension of the public health emergency.

(3) An employer shall provide its employees the paid sick leave required in
subsection (1) of this section for the following absences related to a public health
emergency:

(a) An employee's need to:

(I) Self-isolate and care for oneself because the employee is diagnosed with
a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency;

(II) Self-isolate and care for oneself because the employee is experiencing
symptoms of a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health
emergency;

(III) Seek or obtain medical diagnosis, care, or treatment if experiencing
symptoms of a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health
emergency;

(IV) Seek preventive care concerning a communicable illness that is the
cause of a public health emergency; or

(V) Care for a family member who:

(A) Is self-isolating after being diagnosed with a communicable illness that is
the cause of a public health emergency;

(B) Is self-isolating due to experiencing symptoms of a communicable illness
that is the cause of a public health emergency;

(C) Needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment if experiencing symptoms of
a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency; or

(D) Is seeking preventive care concerning a communicable illness that is the
cause of a public health emergency;

(b) With respect to a communicable illness that is the cause of a public
health emergency:

(I) A local, state, or federal public official or health authority having
jurisdiction over the location in which the employee's place of employment is
located or the employee's employer determines that the employee's presence on
the job or in the community would jeopardize the health of others because of the
employee's exposure to the communicable illness or because the employee is
exhibiting symptoms of the communicable illness, regardless of whether the
employee has been diagnosed with the communicable illness; or

(II) Care of a family member after a local, state, or federal public official or
health authority having jurisdiction over the location in which the family member's
place of employment is located or the family member's employer determines that
the family member's presence on the job or in the community would jeopardize the
health of others because of the family member's exposure to the communicable
illness or because the family member is exhibiting symptoms of the communicable
illness, regardless of whether the family member has been diagnosed with the
communicable illness;

(c) Care of a child or other family member when the individual's child care
provider is unavailable due to a public health emergency, or if the child's or family
member's school or place of care has been closed by a local, state, or federal public
official or at the discretion of the school or place of care due to a public health
emergency, including if a school or place of care is physically closed but providing
instruction remotely;

(d) An employee's inability to work because the employee has a health
condition that may increase susceptibility to or risk of a communicable illness that
is the cause of the public health emergency.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision in this part 4:

(a) An employee shall notify the employee's employer of the need for paid
sick leave under this section as soon as practicable when the need for paid sick
leave is foreseeable and the employer's place of business has not been closed;

(b) Documentation is not required to take paid sick leave under this section;
and

(c) Employees are only eligible for paid sick leave in the amount described in
subsection (1) of this section once during the entirety of a public health emergency
even if such public health emergency is amended, extended, restated, or prolonged.

Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (SB 20-205), ch. 294, p. 1449, � 1,
effective July 14.