As of Jan. 1, 2022, all employers must offer their employees two types of paid sick leave: accrued leave and public health emergency (PHE) leave.
The new Colorado Healthy Families and Workplace Act (HFWA) is a result of the state Legislature passing Senate Bill 20-205, which Gov. Jared Polis signed into law July 14, 2020. The PHE leave portion of the HFWA took effect Jan. 1, 2021, for all employers. It remains in effect today. The accrued leave provision started Jan. 1, 2021. It applied to all employers with 16 or more employees. In 2022, it was enacted for all employers, no matter how many employees they have on the payroll.
Note that an employer found in violation of the act “is liable to the employee for back pay and other equitable damages,” according to the Colorado General Assembly website.
While most employers are aware of the PHE leave, they may not be as versed in the accrued leave portion. Below is a synopsis of both.
Accrued leave:
“Employers are required to provide one hour of paid leave per 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours per year,” according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment website.
This leave can be used for a variety of needs, including:
- “Any mental or physical illness, injury or health condition that prevents work;
- “Diagnosis, care or treatment of such conditions;
- “Preventive care (including vaccination);
- “Needs due to suffering domestic violence, sexual abuse or criminal harassment; or caring for family who have such conditions or needs.”
Paid sick leave begins accruing “when the employee’s employment begins,” according to the “Colorado Employers Face Paid Sick Leave Obligations for 2022” article on the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) website.
In addition, the SHRM website states that employees may:
- “Use paid sick leave as it is accrued;
- “Carry forward and use in subsequent calendar years paid sick leave that is not used in the year in which it is accrued.”
Companies that already have a generous paid-time-off, vacation or sick leave policy — providing at least 48 hours of sick leave — “do not need to provide additional leave. But the accrual must be as generous as that in the act and be available immediately and for part-time employees,” as stated on the SHRM website.
“Additionally, while the act refers to paid sick leave as ‘wages,’ it specifically provides that unused paid sick leave need not be paid out at termination. Any unused paid sick days must be reinstituted if the employee is rehired within six months of termination. The paid sick leave also carries over to any successor employer,” as noted on the website.
PHE leave:
The new Colorado Healthy Families Workplaces Act (HFWA) requires up to two weeks of paid leave (80 hours if full time, less if part time) for COVID-related needs. This policy is still in place, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment website.
It states: “Employees may still have PHE hours available to use if they didn’t use them in 2021; however employees don’t get a new 80 hours each time they have a COVID-related need and don’t get a new 80 hours of PHE leave in 2022, except for newly hired full-time employees. Employees may use PHE leave until four weeks after a PHE ends.”
Leave can be used for a range of COVID-related needs, including:
- “Illness with COVID symptoms;
- “Quarantining or isolating due to COVID exposure;
- “COVID testing;
- “Vaccination and side effects;
- “Inability to work due to health conditions that may increase susceptibility or risk of COVID;
- “COVID-related needs of family (illness, school closure, etc.).”
Another point is that employers “can require documentation for accrued paid sick leave (not for COVID-related public health emergency (PHE) leave), but only for absences of four or more consecutive days — and employees can provide the documentation after the leave ends,” the website states.
For more information on either leave policy, contact the Colorado Division of Labor Standards and Statistics at 303-318-8441.