(1) (a) All employees working in Colorado have the right to paid sick leave as specified in this part 4.
Effective January 1, 2021, each employer with sixteen or more employees shall provide each employee paid sick leave as provided in this section. This subsection (1)(b) is repealed, effective January 1, 2022.
Effective January 1, 2022, each employer shall provide each employee paid sick leave as provided in this section.
(2) (a) Each employee earns at least one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked by the employee; except that an employee is not entitled under this section to earn or use more than forty-eight hours of paid sick leave each year, unless the employer selects a higher limit. An employer may satisfy the accrual requirements of this section by providing the employee with an amount of paid sick leave that meets or exceeds the requirements of this section at the beginning of the year. Nothing in this section discourages or prohibits an employer from providing paid sick leave that accrues at a faster or more generous rate than required by this section. This subsection (2)(a) does not limit the ability of an employee to use paid sick leave as provided in section 8-13.3-405.
Nothing in this part 4 precludes an employer from providing employees more paidsick leave than the amounts specified in this subsection (2).
An employee who is exempt from overtime required in section 8-6-111 (4) accruespaid sick leave based on the assumption that the employee works forty hours per week. If the employee's normal workweek consists of fewer than forty hours, the employee accrues paid sick leave based upon the number of hours that comprise the employee's normal workweek.
(3) (a) An employee begins to accrue paid sick leave when employment with the employer begins and may use accrued paid sick leave as it is accrued.
(b) Up to forty-eight hours of paid sick leave that an employee accrues in a year but does not use carries forward to, and may be used in, a subsequent year; except that an employer is not required to allow the employee to use more than forty-eight hours of paid sick leave in a year.
(4) An employer that has a paid leave policy for its employees may satisfy the requirements of this section and section 8-13.3-405 and is not required to provide additional paid sick leave to its employees if the employer:
Makes available to its employees, through its paid leave policy, an amount of paidleave sufficient to satisfy section 8-13.3-405 and meet the accrual requirements of subsection (2)(a) of this section; and
Allows its employees to use the paid leave for the same purposes and under the sameconditions as those applicable to paid sick leave under this part 4.
(5) (a) Except as specified in subsection (5)(b) of this section, and notwithstanding section 8-4-101 (14)(a)(IV), nothing in this section requires an employer to provide financial or other reimbursement of unused paid sick leave to an employee upon termination, resignation, retirement, or other separation from employment; except that an individual may recover paid sick leave as a remedy for a retaliatory personnel action that prevented the individual from using paid sick leave.
(b) If an employee separates from employment and is rehired by the same employer within six months after the separation, the employer shall reinstate any paid sick leave that the employee had accrued but not used during the employee's previous employment with the employer and that had not been converted to monetary compensation to the employee at the time of separation from employment.
An employer may loan paid sick leave to an employee in advance of accrual of paidsick leave by the employee.
If an employee is transferred to a separate division, entity, or location but remainsemployed by the same employer, the employee is entitled to all paid sick leave accrued at the prior division, entity, or location and is entitled to use all paid sick leave as provided in this section.
If a successor employer succeeds an original employer, all employees of the originalemployer who remain employed by the successor employer are entitled to all paid sick leave that the employees accrued when employed by the original employer and are entitled to use previously accrued paid sick leave as specified in section 8-13.3-404.
The division shall promulgate rules regarding compensation and accrual of paid sickleave for employees employed and compensated on a fee-for-service basis.
Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (SB 20-205), ch. 294, p. 1445, § 1, effective July 14.