Coming Soon: More Changes to Colorado Employers’ Obligations under the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act

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Gov. Jared Polis recently signed into law three new reasons for which accrued paid sick leave can be used under Colorado’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA). Effective Aug. 7, 2023, accrued paid sick leave will also be available to Colorado employees for the following purposes:

1. To grieve, attend funeral services or a memorial, or deal with financial and legal matters that arise after a family member’s death.
2. To provide care for a family member whose school or place of care has been closed due to an unexpected event that leads to the closure of the school or place of care, including inclement weather and loss of power, heating, or water.
3. To evacuate the employee’s place of residence due to an unexpected event that leads to the need to evacuate, including inclement weather and loss of power, heating, or water.

For clarity regarding when the above reasons would apply, the term “family member” means:

1. An employee’s immediate family member (i.e., a person who is related by blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption).
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.
3. A person for whom the employee is responsible for providing or arranging health- or safety-related care.

Colorado employers have been providing employees with accrued paid sick leave under the HFWA since Jan. 1, 2021. The HFWA requires Colorado employers to provide one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked up to 48 hours in a year. This amount can also be frontloaded at the beginning of the year. These obligations can be met through a general paid time off policy that is carefully drafted and administered. In addition to the three new reasons for accrued paid sick leave, it is available for the following purposes:

1. A mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition that prevents work.
2. Obtaining preventive medical care (including a vaccination), or a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment, of any mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition.
3. For victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or criminal harassment: for leave for medical attention, mental health care or other counseling, legal or other victim services, or relocation.
4. To provide care for a family member who has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, or who needs the sort of care listed in category two or three above.
5. When an employee is required to care for a child due to a public health emergency in which a public official closes the employee’s place of business or their child’s school or place of care.

Given the recent end of the public health emergency (PHE), which put an end to Colorado employers’ obligation to provide supplemental PHE leave effective June 8, 2003 and the addition of these three new reasons for which accrued paid sick leave is available, we recommend that employers take this opportunity to revisit their HFWA policies to ensure compliance and best practices. This is especially true for employers who have not revised their policies since the HFWA took effect.

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