Denver, Colo. (July 28, 2023) - In this third installment of our Colorado Legislation Client Alert Series, we review amendments to Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA), which expand the permitted uses of paid sick leave to cover bereavement and inclement weather.

Previously, Colorado's HFWA permitted employees to take up to 48 hours of paid sick leave per year for the following reasons:

  • a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition that prevents work;
  • to obtain preventative medical care (including vaccination) or a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition;
  • to care for a family member who has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition or who needs the sort of care described above;
  • the employee or the employee's family member is a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or criminal harassment and leave is needed for medical attention, mental health care, other counseling, legal, or victim services, or relocation;
  • in a public health emergency (PHE), a public official closed the employee's workplace, or the school or place of care of the employee's child;

Effective August 7, 2023, Colorado employees also can use paid sick leave to:

  • grieve, attend funeral services or a memorial, or deal with financial and legal matters that arise after the death of a family member;
  • care for a family member whose school or place of care closed due to inclement weather, loss of power, heating, or water, or other unexpected occurrence or event;
  • evacuate the employee's residence due to inclement weather, loss of power, heating, or water, or other unexpected occurrence or event.

For purposes of the HFWA, qualifying "family members" include: (1) the employee's immediate family member (related by blood, adoption, marriage, or civil union); (2) 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.

Colorado's HFWA also provides additional paid sick leave during, and for up to 4 weeks after the expiration of, a public health emergency (PHE) for covered reasons related to the PHE. With the expiration of the federal and state public health emergencies related to COVID-19, the ability of Colorado employees to take supplemental PHE leave ended on June 8, 2023. Leave for aCOVID-19 related illness remains available under the HFWA's regular paid sick leave provisions. Additionally, should a public health emergency be declared in the future, the supplemental paid sick leave requirement will be triggered once again.

Colorado employers are required to provide employees with notice of their rights under the HFWA. Accordingly, employers will need to update their employee handbooks to include the three new permitted uses for paid sick leave and post the update poster issued by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) prior to August 7, 2023.

Up Next

Part I of our client alert series provided an overview of the recent legislative developments impacting Colorado employers.Part II discussed the expanded workplace protections and compliance requirements under the POWR Act.

In our final installment of this Colorado Legislation Client Alert Series, Part IV will review amendments to Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and the new Job Application Fairness Act, which impose new requirements on employers in January and July of 2024, respectively.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.