Colorado § 8-4-121 - Nonwaiver of employee rights.

§ 8-4-121. Nonwaiver of employee rights.

Any agreement, written or oral, by any employee purporting to waive or to modify such employee's rights in violation of this article shall be void.

Source: L. 2003: Entire article amended with relocations, p. 1862, § 1, effective August 6.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 8-4-125 as it existed prior to 2003, and the former § 8-4-121 was relocated to § 8-4-118.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Payment of Employee Vacation Time in Colorado", see 51 Colo. Law. 36 (May 2022).

Annotator's note. Since § 8-4-121 is similar to § 8-4-125 as it existed prior to the 2003 amendment to article 4, which resulted in the relocation of provisions, relevant cases construing that provision have been included in the annotations to this section.

This section, by its plain language, voids any agreement, written or oral, that constitutes a waiver or modification of any employee's rights under the wage claim act. Morris v. Towers Fin. Corp., 916 P.2d 678 (Colo. App. 1996).

The plain meaning of this section is that an agreement to arbitrate that conflicts with the rights established by the wage claim act cannot be enforced against the employee. Lambdin v. Dist. Ct. of Arapahoe Cty., 903 P.2d 1126 (Colo. 1995).

The supremacy clause governs when the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applies to an employment contract and requires arbitration even in a wage claim act claim despite the firm state policy that wage claim act claims should not be subject to arbitration. Where a contract containing an arbitration clause evidences a transaction involving commerce, the FAA applies and the agreement to arbitrate must be enforced. Grohn v. Sisters of Charity Health, 960 P.2d 722 (Colo. App. 1998); Byerly v. Kirkpatrick Pettis Smith Polian, Inc., 996 P.2d 771 (Colo. App. 2000).

The FAA preempts this section to the extent that an agreement to arbitrate a dispute relating to employee compensation is not void and that public policy is not thereby offended. Byerly v. Kirkpatrick Pettis Smith Polian, Inc., 996 P.2d 771 (Colo. App. 2000).

Since wage claim act does not create a substantive right to compensation for labor and services performed, employee's right to compensation is governed by the employment agreement and not by the statute; therefore, employment contract is not void under this section. Barnes v. Van Schaack Mortg., 787 P.2d 207 (Colo. App. 1990).

An agreement between employee and employer to deduct employer's costs of doing business from employee's wages was unenforceable. A salon's cost of hair care products did not qualify as "goods or services" under § 8-4-105 (1)(b). Thus, the salon unlawfully shifted its own costs of doing business to its employee through an agreement that deducted the cost of the hair care products from the employee's wages. Such an agreement contravenes the legislature's manifest intent to prevent contractual waiver or modification of an employer's mandatory obligations under this act. 303 Beauty Bar v. Div. of Labor Standards, 2025 COA 20, 568 P.3d 43.

Arbitration provision in an employment contract that denies the employee the right to a timely civil action in a Colorado court pursuant to § 8-2-123 is void. Lambdin v. Dist. Ct. of Arapahoe Ct., 903 P.2d 1126 (Colo. 1995).