(1) (a) If a case against an employer is enforced pursuant to section 8-4-111, any employer who without good faith legal justification fails to pay the wages of each of his or her employees shall forfeit to the people of the state of Colorado a fine in an amount determined by the director or hearing officer but no more than the sum of fifty dollars per day for each such failure to pay each employee, commencing from the date that such wages first became due and payable. The division may collect the fine through its citation and notice of assessment issued pursuant to section 8-4-111 (2) or after a hearing conducted pursuant to section 8-4-111.5.
(b) The director or hearing officer shall impose a fine of two hundred fifty dollars on an employer who fails to respond to a notice of complaint or to any other notice from the division to which a response is required. The director or hearing officer may waive or reduce the fine only if he or she finds good cause for an extension of the time for the employer to file the response.
A certified copy of any citation, notice of assessment, or order imposing wages due,fines, or penalties pursuant to this article may be filed with the clerk of any court having jurisdiction over the parties at any time after the entry of the order. The certified copy shall be recorded by the clerk of the district court in the judgment book of said court and entry thereof made in the judgment docket, and it shall thenceforth have all the effect of a judgment of the district court, and execution may issue thereon out of said court as in other cases.
(a) The division shall transmit all fines collected pursuant to this section to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same to the wage theft enforcement fund, which fund is created and referred to in this section as the "fund". The moneys in the fund are subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly to the division for the direct and indirect costs associated with implementing this article.
(b) The state treasurer may invest any moneys in the fund not expended for the purpose of this article as provided by law. The state treasurer shall credit all interest and income derived from the investment and deposit of moneys in the fund to the fund. Any unexpended and unencumbered moneys remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year remain in the fund and must not be credited or transferred to the general fund or another fund.
Source: L. 2003: Entire article amended with relocations, p. 1859, § 1, effective August 6. L. 2014: Entire section amended, (SB 14-005), ch. 276, p. 1119, § 7, effective January 1, 2015.
Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 8-4-109 as it existed prior to 2003, and the former § 8-4-113 was relocated to § 8-4-112.
Cross references: For the short title ("Wage Protection Act of 2014") in SB 14-005, see section 1 of chapter 276, Session Laws of Colorado 2014.