Imminent Changes to Colorado’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act
Marlin Duro-Martinez, Tracy M. Billows, Nicolas A. Lussier, and Joshua D. Seidman
What You Need To Know
- Effective Aug. 7, 2023, Colorado employees will be able to use leave under the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act for bereavement, to care for family members whose school or place of care is closed due to certain unexpected occurrences, or to evacuate from the employee’s residence due to certain unforeseen occurrences, in addition to the already existing reasons for use. Employers should ensure their policies comply with the Colorado law prior to the Aug. 7 effective date.
On June 2, 2023, Governor Jared Polis signed into law Senate Bill 23-017 (SB 23-017), which amended the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA) and thereby expanded its covered reasons for use of paid sick leave. Effective Aug. 7, employees in Colorado may use leave for the following additional reasons:
- To grieve, attend funeral services or a memorial, or deal with financial and legal matters that arise after the death of a covered family member;
- To care for a family member whose school or place of care has been closed due to inclement weather, loss of power, loss of heating, loss of water, or other unexpected occurrence or event that results in the closure of the family member’s school or place of care; or
- To evacuate the employee’s place of residence due to inclement weather, loss of power, loss of heating, loss of water, or other unexpected occurrence or event that results in the need to evacuate the employee’s residence.
Employers should update any Colorado HFWA policies, postings, or other related documents to reflect these new reasons for use.
Also, as a reminder, although the HFWA’s Public Health Emergency Leave mandate has no sunset date, as of June 2023, employees are no longer able to use the Public Health Emergency Leave due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. See our prior alert here for more information.
***This article originally appeared on the Seyfarth Shaw “If Pain, Yes Gain” legal update series and was reposted on the DMEC website with their permission.***