Effective July 15, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2020, Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (“HFWA”) (SB 20-205) requires almost all Colorado employers, private or public, and regardless of size, to provide each employee paid leave for reasons related to COVID-19, in the amounts and for the purposes specified in the federal “Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act” in the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act.”

As of Jan. 1, 2021, HFWA requires paid leave (1 hour per 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours’ leave per year) for a broader range of health and safety purposes — not just related to COVID-19, but any illness/injury, health appointment, or domestic violence-related need of the worker or a family member. In 2021, employers with 16 or more employees are covered; as of 2022, employers of all sizes are covered.

Effective July 12, 2020, Public Health Emergency Whistleblower (“PHEW”) Law (HB 20-1415) prohibits a “principal” — employers plus certain labor contractors and other entities that rely on independent contractors — from discriminating, retaliating, or taking adverse action against any worker who:

• Raises any concern about workplace health and safety practices or hazards related to a public health emergency; or
• Voluntarily wears, at the workplace, the worker’s own personal protective equipment (“PPE”), such as a mask, faceguard, or gloves, if the PPE is recommended by a government public health agency, provides more protection than any PPE the principal provides, and does not prevent performing the worker’s duties.

For more information on these laws, or other Colorado wage or workplace conditions laws and regulations, please visit the Division of Labor Standards’ website.