As used in this part 4, unless the context otherwise
requires:
(1) Director means the director of the division.
(2) Division means the division of labor standards and statistics in the
department of labor and employment created in section 8-1-103.
(3) Domestic abuse has the meaning set forth in section 13-14-101 (2).
(4) Employee has the meaning set forth in section 8-4-101 (5). Employee
does not include an employee as defined in 45 U.S.C. sec. 351 (d) who is subject to
the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, 45 U.S.C. sec. 351 et seq.
(5) (a) Employer has the meaning set forth in section 8-4-101 (6); except
that the term includes the state and its agencies or entities, counties, cities and
counties, municipalities, school districts, and any political subdivisions of the state.
(b) Employer does not include the federal government.
(6) Family member means:
(a) An employee's immediate family member, as defined in section 2-4-401
(3.7);
(b) A child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis or a person who
stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a minor; or
(c) A person for whom the employee is responsible for providing or arranging
health- or safety-related care.
(7) Harassment has the meaning set forth in section 18-9-111.
(8) (a) (I) Paid sick leave means time off from work that is:
(A) Compensated at the same hourly rate or salary and with the same
benefits, including health care benefits, as the employee normally earns during
hours worked; and
(B) Provided by an employer to an employee for one or more of the purposes
described in sections 8-13.3-404 to 8-13.3-406.
(II) As used in subsection (8)(a)(I)(A) of this section:
(A) Same hourly rate or salary under this part 4 does not include overtime,
bonuses, or holiday pay.
(B) For employees paid on a commission basis only, same hourly rate or
salary means a rate of no less than the applicable minimum wage.
(C) For employees paid an hourly, weekly, or monthly wage and also paid on
a commission basis, same hourly rate or salary means the rate of pay equivalent
to the employee's hourly, weekly, or monthly wage or the applicable minimum
wage, whichever is greater.
(b) Paid sick leave is wages as defined in section 8-4-101 (14).
(9) Public health emergency means:
(a) An act of bioterrorism, a pandemic influenza, or an epidemic caused by a
novel and highly fatal infectious agent, for which:
(I) An emergency is declared by a federal, state, or local public health
agency; or
(II) A disaster emergency is declared by the governor; or
(b) A highly infectious illness or agent with epidemic or pandemic potential
for which a disaster emergency is declared by the governor.
(10) Retaliatory personnel action means:
(a) The denial of any right guaranteed under this part 4; or
(b) Any adverse action against an employee for exercising any right
guaranteed in this part 4, including:
(I) Any threat, discipline, discharge, suspension, demotion, reduction of
hours, or reporting or threatening to report an employee's suspected citizenship or
immigration status or the suspected citizenship or immigration status of a family
member of the employee to a federal, state, or local agency; or
(II) Any sanctions against an employee who is the recipient of public benefits
for rights guaranteed under this part 4; or
(III) Interference with or punishment for participating in or assisting, in any
manner, an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this part 4.
(11) Sexual assault has the meaning set forth in section 18-3-402.
(12) Successor employer means an employing unit, whether or not an
employing unit at the time of acquisition, that becomes an employer subject to this
part 4 because it acquires all of an organization, a trade, or a business or
substantially all of the assets of one or more employers subject to this part 4.
(13) Year means a regular and consecutive twelve-month period as
determined by an employer; except that, for the purposes of section 8-13.3-411,
year means a calendar year.
Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (SB 20-205), ch. 294, p. 1443, � 1,
effective July 14.
8-13.3-403. Paid sick leave - accrual - carry forward to subsequent year -
comparable leave provided by employer - no payment for unused leave - rules. (1)
(a) All employees working in Colorado have the right to paid sick leave as specified
in this part 4.
(b) Repealed.
(c) Effective January 1, 2022, each employer shall provide each employee
paid sick leave as provided in this section.
(2) (a) Each employee earns at least one hour of paid sick leave for every
thirty hours worked by the employee; except that an employee is not entitled under
this section to earn or use more than forty-eight hours of paid sick leave each year,
unless the employer selects a higher limit. An employer may satisfy the accrual
requirements of this section by providing the employee with an amount of paid sick
leave that meets or exceeds the requirements of this section at the beginning of
the year. Nothing in this section discourages or prohibits an employer from
providing paid sick leave that accrues at a faster or more generous rate than
required by this section. This subsection (2)(a) does not limit the ability of an
employee to use paid sick leave as provided in section 8-13.3-405.
(b) Nothing in this part 4 precludes an employer from providing employees
more paid sick leave than the amounts specified in this subsection (2).
(c) An employee who is exempt from overtime required in section 8-6-111 (4)
accrues paid sick leave based on the assumption that the employee works forty
hours per week. If the employee's normal workweek consists of fewer than forty
hours, the employee accrues paid sick leave based upon the number of hours that
comprise the employee's normal workweek.
(3) (a) An employee begins to accrue paid sick leave when employment with
the employer begins and may use accrued paid sick leave as it is accrued.
(b) Up to forty-eight hours of paid sick leave that an employee accrues in a
year but does not use carries forward to, and may be used in, a subsequent year;
except that an employer is not required to allow the employee to use more than
forty-eight hours of paid sick leave in a year.
(4) An employer that has a paid leave policy for its employees may satisfy
the requirements of this section and section 8-13.3-405 and is not required to
provide additional paid sick leave to its employees if the employer:
(a) Makes available to its employees, through its paid leave policy, an
amount of paid leave sufficient to satisfy section 8-13.3-405 and meet the accrual
requirements of subsection (2)(a) of this section; and
(b) Allows its employees to use the paid leave for the same purposes and
under the same conditions as those applicable to paid sick leave under this part 4.
(5) (a) Except as specified in subsection (5)(b) of this section, and
notwithstanding section 8-4-101 (14)(a)(IV), nothing in this section requires an
employer to provide financial or other reimbursement of unused paid sick leave to
an employee upon termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation from
employment; except that an individual may recover paid sick leave as a remedy for
a retaliatory personnel action that prevented the individual from using paid sick
leave.
(b) If an employee separates from employment and is rehired by the same
employer within six months after the separation, the employer shall reinstate any
paid sick leave that the employee had accrued but not used during the employee's
previous employment with the employer and that had not been converted to
monetary compensation to the employee at the time of separation from
employment.
(6) An employer may loan paid sick leave to an employee in advance of
accrual of paid sick leave by the employee.
(7) If an employee is transferred to a separate division, entity, or location but
remains employed by the same employer, the employee is entitled to all paid sick
leave accrued at the prior division, entity, or location and is entitled to use all paid
sick leave as provided in this section.
(8) If a successor employer succeeds an original employer, all employees of
the original employer who remain employed by the successor employer are entitled
to all paid sick leave that the employees accrued when employed by the original
employer and are entitled to use previously accrued paid sick leave as specified in
section 8-13.3-404.
(9) The division shall promulgate rules regarding compensation and accrual
of paid sick leave for employees employed and compensated on a fee-for-service
basis.
Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (SB 20-205), ch. 294, p. 1445, � 1,
effective July 14.
Editor's note: Subsection (1)(b) provided for the repeal of subsection (1)(b),
effective January 1, 2022. (See L. 2020, p. 1445.)