Labor and employment attorneys in Colorado may be eagerly watching this legislative session after a flurry of bills related to this practice area were introduced last year. Just over 30 bills were introduced related to labor and employment last year, while around 20 have been introduced so far this session.
Among the bills impacting this legal practice this year is one that would further limit restrictive employment agreements. There’s an existing exemption for highly compensated workers in the state’s new noncompete law passed last year. The bill would exclude doctors, advanced practice registered nurses and dentists from that exemption.
As of March 11, that bill passed its second reading in the Senate with amendments.
Another bill, House Bill 25-1264, would prohibit the use of automated decision systems to inform individualized prices for consumers or wages for workers based on surveillance data using AI or other technology like machine learning.
Last July, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into such pricing practices. Specifically, the FTC issued eight orders to companies who engage in “surveillance pricing,” stating it’s attempting to “better understand how surveillance pricing is affecting consumers, especially when the pricing is based on surveillance of an individual’s personal characteristics and behavior.”
The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce is among the opposition to the bill, stating the bill combines two distinct issues and creates regulatory uncertainty for businesses. The chamber also wrote on its position tracker on its website that it feels the definition of “surveillance” in the bill is too broad and may include standard business practices like customer experience assessments.
As of publication, the bill hasn’t moved out of the House Judiciary Committee to which it was introduced last month.
Bill Number: SB25-083
Title: Limitations on Restrictive Employment Agreements
Introduced: Jan. 23
Sponsors: L. Daugherty, L. Frizell, K. Brown, L. Garcia Sander
Summary: Under current law, there is an exemption from the general prohibition against covenants not to compete. The exemption allows for a covenant not to compete under specified conditions governing an individual who earns an amount of annualized cash compensation equivalent to or greater than the threshold amount for highly compensated workers. The bill excludes from the highly compensated worker exemption a covenant not to compete that restricts the practice of medicine, the practice of advanced practice registered nursing or the practice of dentistry in Colorado.
Bill Number: HB25-1286
Title: Protecting Workers from Extreme Temperatures
Introduced: Feb. 24
Sponsors: E. Velasco, M. Froelich, M. Weissman, L. Cutter
Summary: The bill requires employers to implement protections for workers who are exposed to extreme hot and cold temperatures at the worksite, including temperature mitigation measures, rest breaks and temperature-related injury and illness prevention plans.
Bill Number: HB25-1264
Title: Prohibit Surveillance Data to Set Prices and Wages
Introduced: Feb. 18
Sponsors: J. Mabrey, L. Garcia, I. Jodeh, M. Weissman
Summary: The bill defines surveillance data as data that is obtained through observation, inference or surveillance and that is related to personal characteristics, behaviors or biometrics. The bill prohibits surveillance-based discrimination against a consumer or worker based on surveillance data through the use of automated decision systems to inform individualized prices based on surveillance data regarding a consumer or individualized wages based on surveillance data regarding a worker. An automated decision system is defined by the bill.
Bill Number: HB25-1208
Title: Local Governments Tip Offsets for Tipped Employees
Introduced: Feb. 11
Sponsors: S. Woodrow, A. Valdez, J. Amabile
Summary: Current law allows a local government to establish local minimum wages in excess of the statewide minimum wage established in the state constitution. A local government that enacts a minimum wage must provide a tip offset for tipped employees in an amount equal to the tip offset amount described in the state constitution, which is $3.02. The bill requires a local government in this scenario to enact another code or ordinance on or before Sept. 1 that imposes a tip offset for food and beverage employees in an amount that equals the amount by which the local minimum wage exceeds the state minimum wage, plus $3.02 that would take effect on or before Oct. 1.
Bill Number: SB25-144
Title: Change Paid Family Medical Leave Insurance Prog
Introduced: Feb 5
Sponsors: F. Winter, J. Bridges, J. Willford, Y. Zokaie
Summary: With regard to the family and medical leave insurance program, the bill extends the duration of paid family and medical leave, up to an additional 12 weeks, for a parent who has a child receiving inpatient care in a neonatal intensive care unit. The bill also changes the premiums financing the payment of program benefits by extending the current premium amount, 0.9% of wages per employee, through 2025 and setting the premium amount for the 2026 calendar year at 0.88% of wages per employee.
Bill Number: SB25-005
Title: Worker Protection Collective Bargaining
Introduced: Jan. 8
Sponsors: R. Rodriguez, J. Danielson, J. Mabrey, J. Bacon
Summary: The bill eliminates the requirement for a second election to negotiate a union security agreement clause in the collective bargaining process.
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