Until last week, it was assumed that the Paid Sick Leave and Supplemental Leave provisions of the Colorado Healthy Families & Workplaces Act (“HFWA”) would not apply to small employers – those with less than 16 employees – until January 21, 2022. “Supplemental Leave” is up to 80 hours of paid leave available to employees who must address their own, or a family member’s, confirmed or presumed coronavirus infection, or who are needed at home to care for children owing to pandemic-related school or childcare facility closures. Supplemental Leave is also available to employees who do not want to return to work because they have an underlying medical condition that could make them more susceptible to coronavirus infection or to more severe COVID-19 symptoms.
Contrary to what was understood, however, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has issued “INFO” No. 6C, which indicates that all employers, regardless of size, must offer 80 hours of Supplemental Leave beginning January 1, 2021 – not 2022 – to all full-time employees. Employees who work less than 40 hours each week are entitled to leave that equals the number of hours they typically work in two weeks.
This mandate may come as a surprise to smaller farms and ranches that had reason to believe they would not have this obligation unless the Governor’s Public Health Emergency Order continued in effect into 2022. Instead, they will all need to make HFWA Supplemental Leave available to their employees beginning this Friday, January 1, 2021.
CLA has received this employment update from attorney Kevin Paul. If you have questions, please refer them to him directly at (303) 376-3704 or kevinpaul@range.law
