Use of paid sick leave - purposes - time increments.

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(1) An employer shall allow an employee to use the employee's accrued paid sick leave to be absent from work when:

(a) The employee:

  1. Has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition that prevents the employee from working;

  2. Needs to obtain a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or

  3. Needs to obtain preventive medical care;

(b) The employee needs to care for a family member who:

  1. Has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition;

  2. Needs to obtain a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or

  3. Needs to obtain preventive medical care;

(c) The employee or the employee's family member has been the victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment and the use of leave is to:

  1. Seek medical attention for the employee or the employee's family member to recoverfrom a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition caused by the domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment;

  2. Obtain services from a victim services organization;

  3. Obtain mental health or other counseling;

  4. Seek relocation due to the domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment; or

  5. Seek legal services, including preparation for or participation in a civil or criminalproceeding relating to or resulting from the domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment; or (d) Due to a public health emergency, a public official has ordered closure of:

  1. The employee's place of business; or

  2. The school or place of care of the employee's child and the employee needs to beabsent from work to care for the employee's child.

  1. An employer shall allow an employee to use paid sick leave upon the request of anemployee. The request may be made orally, in writing, electronically, or by any other means acceptable to the employer. When possible, the employee shall include the expected duration of the absence. An employer may provide a written policy that contains reasonable procedures for the employee to provide notice when the use of paid sick leave taken under this section is foreseeable. An employer shall not deny paid sick leave to the employee based on noncompliance with such a policy.

  2. An employee must use paid sick leave in hourly increments unless the employee'semployer allows paid sick leave to be taken in smaller increments of time.

  3. An employer shall not require, as a condition of providing paid sick leave under thispart 4, an employee who uses paid sick leave to search for or find a replacement worker to cover the time during which the employee is absent from work.

  4. When the use of paid sick leave taken under this section is foreseeable, the employeeshall make a good-faith effort to provide notice of the need for paid sick leave to the employee's employer in advance of the use of the paid sick leave and shall make a reasonable effort to schedule the use of paid sick leave in a manner that does not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.

  5. Notwithstanding section 8-13.3-405 (4)(b), for paid sick leave of four or more consecutive work days, an employer may require reasonable documentation that the paid sick leave is for a purpose authorized by this part 4.

Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (SB 20-205), ch. 294, p. 1447, § 1, effective July 14. 8-13.3-405. Additional paid sick leave during a public health emergency. (1) In addition to paid sick leave accrued under section 8-13.3-403, on the date a public health emergency is declared, each employer in the state shall supplement each employee's accrued paid sick leave as necessary to ensure that an employee may take the following amounts of paid sick leave for the purposes specified in subsection (3) of this section:

  1. For employees who normally work forty or more hours in a week, at least eightyhours;

  2. For employees who normally work fewer than forty hours in a week, at least thegreater of either the amount of time the employee is scheduled to work in a fourteen-day period or the amount of time the employee actually works on average in a fourteen-day period.

(2) (a) An employer may count an employee's unused accrued paid sick leave under section 8-13.3-403 toward the supplemental paid sick leave required in subsection (1) of this section.

(b) An employee may use paid sick leave under this section until four weeks after the official termination or suspension of the public health emergency.

(3) An employer shall provide its employees the paid sick leave required in subsection

  1. of this section for the following absences related to a public health emergency:

    1. An employee's need to:

    1. Self-isolate and care for oneself because the employee is diagnosed with a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency;

    2. Self-isolate and care for oneself because the employee is experiencing symptoms ofa communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency;

    3. Seek or obtain medical diagnosis, care, or treatment if experiencing symptoms of acommunicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency;

    4. Seek preventive care concerning a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency; or

    5. Care for a family member who:

    1. Is self-isolating after being diagnosed with a communicable illness that is the causeof a public health emergency;

    2. Is self-isolating due to experiencing symptoms of a communicable illness that is thecause of a public health emergency;

    3. Needs medical diagnosis, care, or treatment if experiencing symptoms of a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency; or

    4. Is seeking preventive care concerning a communicable illness that is the cause of apublic health emergency;

    1. With respect to a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency:

    1. A local, state, or federal public official or health authority having jurisdiction over thelocation in which the employee's place of employment is located or the employee's employer determines that the employee's presence on the job or in the community would jeopardize the health of others because of the employee's exposure to the communicable illness or because the employee is exhibiting symptoms of the communicable illness, regardless of whether the employee has been diagnosed with the communicable illness; or

    2. Care of a family member after a local, state, or federal public official or health authority having jurisdiction over the location in which the family member's place of employment is located or the family member's employer determines that the family member's presence on the job or in the community would jeopardize the health of others because of the family member's exposure to the communicable illness or because the family member is exhibiting symptoms of the communicable illness, regardless of whether the family member has been diagnosed with the communicable illness;

    1. Care of a child or other family member when the individual's child care provider isunavailable due to a public health emergency, or if the child's or family member's school or place of care has been closed by a local, state, or federal public official or at the discretion of the school or place of care due to a public health emergency, including if a school or place of care is physically closed but providing instruction remotely;

    2. An employee's inability to work because the employee has a health condition thatmay increase susceptibility to or risk of a communicable illness that is the cause of the public health emergency.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision in this part 4:

  1. An employee shall notify the employee's employer of the need for paid sick leaveunder this section as soon as practicable when the need for paid sick leave is foreseeable and the employer's place of business has not been closed;

  2. Documentation is not required to take paid sick leave under this section; and

  3. Employees are only eligible for paid sick leave in the amount described in subsection(1) of this section once during the entirety of a public health emergency even if such public health emergency is amended, extended, restated, or prolonged.

Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (SB 20-205), ch. 294, p. 1449, § 1, effective July 14.


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