CDLE Invokes Public Health Emergency Provisions of Healthy Families and Workplaces Act for 2021

By Colin A. Walker, Fairfield and Woods, P.C.

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) has issued a rule determining that the Public Health Emergency provisions of the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA) will be in effect in 2021. This means that full-time employees may take up to 80 hours of paid leave in 2021 for the following reasons:

• Self-isolation or medical care as a result of a communicable illness that is the cause of the public health emergency of the employee or a family member;

• The employer or a governmental agency has determined that the employee’s presence on the job or in the community would jeopardize the health of others;

• The employer or a governmental agency has determined that the employee’s family member’s presence on the job or in the community would jeopardize the health of others;

• To care for a child whose school or daycare is unavailable due to a public health emergency; or

• The employee is unable to work because the employee has a health condition that may increase susceptibility to or risk of a communicable illness that is the cause of the public health emergency.

Employers with 15 or less employees are exempt for 2021, however they will fall under any future orders given in 2022. Employers with more than 15 employers are not exempt from this order.