Employees Will Have More Reasons to Take Paid Leave under the HFWA

June 8, 2023

Last week Governor Polis signed a bill that amends the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA) by adding more reasons employees can use paid sick leave. Under the HFWA, employees can take paid sick leave for several reasons relating to health and safety. (For an overview of the HFWA, see my article dated July 23, 2020, below.) Beginning August 7, 2023, employees can also use accrued paid leave to:

● “grieve, attend funeral services or a memorial” or address “financial and legal matters that arise after the death of a family member”;

● “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

● “evacuate the employee’s 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 are required to notify their Colorado employees of the right to take paid leave under the HFWA, including the reasons such leave is available. Leave policies should be updated to include these additional reasons. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment will probably issue an updated poster addressing worker rights under the HFWA. Employers should replace the current poster with the revised poster when it becomes available.

A note on individual liability under the HFWA: In some circumstances, officers and agents of a company can be held personally liable for unpaid wages in Colorado. That has been the case since the beginning of 2020. Likewise, some individuals may be personally liable for violations of the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act. The CDLE’s Interpretive Notice & Formal Opinion #11A discusses this topic. It can be found here.