§ 8-3.3-113 — Collective bargaining agreement - arbitration

Colorado § 8-3.3-113

• Jurisdiction: Colorado
• Title 08: Labor and
• Art.: Collective Bargaining by County Employees

Text

(1) An agreement
negotiated between an exclusive representative and a county, with the approval of
the board of county commissioners of the county, constitutes the collective
bargaining agreement between the parties.

(2) A collective bargaining agreement entered into under this article 3.3
must be for a term of at least twelve months and not more than sixty months. A
collective bargaining agreement remains in effect until replaced by a subsequent
collective bargaining agreement.

(3) If there is an existing law, policy, ordinance, or charter provision that
applies to a county that provides procedures for the appeal of county employee
discipline, including terminations, a county employee may elect to appeal a
disciplinary action either under the applicable appeals procedure established by
that law, policy, ordinance, or charter provision or under a grievance procedure
established in a collective bargaining agreement applicable to the county, but not
both. A county employee's election of a remedy is irrevocable and is made at the
time the county employee timely files a written disciplinary appeal under the
negotiated grievance procedure or the procedure established by law, policy,
ordinance, or charter provision, whichever occurs first.

(4) (a) A collective bargaining agreement shall provide for a grievance
procedure culminating in final and binding arbitration, subject to judicial review in
accordance with this article 3.3, to resolve disputes over the interpretation,
application, and enforcement of any provision of the collective bargaining
agreement.

(b) An exclusive representative or the county may seek judicial review or
confirmation of an arbitrator's decision as the final step in a collective bargaining
agreement grievance procedure in a court of competent jurisdiction. The decision of
an arbitrator must be enforced, and the parties shall comply with the decision and
award, unless a court concludes that:

(I) The decision and award was procured by corruption, fraud, or other undue
means;

(II) The arbitrator exceeded the arbitrator's authority;

(III) The arbitrator's decision and award violated public policy;

(IV) The arbitrator engaged in manifest disregard of the law; or

(V) The arbitrator denied the parties a fundamentally fair hearing.

(5) A collective bargaining agreement shall not:

(a) Delay the prompt interviewing of county employees under investigation;
except that a county employee must be given sufficient time to have the county
employee's exclusive representative present at any examination in connection with
an investigation in accordance with section 8-3.3-103 (3);

(b) Permit a county employee to use paid time for any or all of a suspension
when the suspension was properly imposed, in accordance with applicable
standards or procedures, or where a supervisor, employer, administrative law judge,
hearing officer, or a court has found a deprivation of rights under the state or
federal constitution;

(c) Permit the expungement of disciplinary records from a county
employee's personnel file for substantiated infractions of a county's policies
regarding:

(I) Physical use of force;

(II) Deadly physical force;

(III) Actions resulting in death or serious bodily injury; and

(IV) Actions resulting in a deprivation of rights under the state or federal
constitution;

(d) Impose limits on the period of time during which a county employee may
be disciplined or an investigation may occur for incidents involving physical force,
incidents of deadly physical force, incidents that resulted in death or serious bodily
injury, or incidents alleging a deprivation of an individual's rights under the state or
federal constitution;

(e) Place limitations on the substance, method for filing, or source of
complaints that may prompt an investigation into employee misconduct.

(6) A collective bargaining agreement must be consistent with applicable
state and federal laws, including state and federal laws governing the county
officials' and county employees' retirement plan or the Colorado employee
retirement system described in article 51 of title 24, whichever is applicable. If any
clause in a collective bargaining agreement is determined to be invalid or
unenforceable, the unenforceability or invalidity of such clause does not affect the
enforceability or validity of any other clause of the collective bargaining
agreement.

(7) Any term of a collective bargaining agreement requiring the
appropriation of funds must be submitted to the board of county commissioners of
the county at the meeting following notification by the exclusive representative to
the county that the bargaining unit has approved the agreement in accordance with
the internal procedures of the exclusive representative.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2022: Entire article added, (SB 22-230), ch. 260, p. 1914, � 2, effective July 1, 2023.