Colorado § 13-71-134 - Penalties and enforcement remedies for harassment by employer.

§ 13-71-134. Penalties and enforcement remedies for harassment by employer.

(1) An employer shall not deprive an employed juror of employment or any incidents or benefits thereof, nor shall an employer harass, threaten, or coerce an employee because the employee receives a juror summons, responds thereto, performs any obligation or election of juror service as a trial or grand juror, or exercises any right under any section of this article. An employer shall make no demands upon any employed juror which will substantially interfere with the effective performance of juror service. The employed juror may commence a civil action for such damages or injunctive relief or both, as may be appropriate, for a violation of this section. The court may award treble damages and reasonable attorney fees to the juror upon a finding of willful misconduct by the employer. Any trial of such an action shall be to the court without a jury.

(2) Any employer who willfully violates this section commits willful harassment of a juror by an employer, as defined in section 18-8-614, C.R.S., which is a class 2 misdemeanor punishable as provided in section 18-1.3-501, C.R.S.

Source: L. 89: Entire article R&RE, p. 772, § 1, effective January 1, 1990. L. 2002: (2) amended, p. 1489, § 126, effective October 1.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 2002 act amending subsection (2), see section 1 of chapter 318, Session Laws of Colorado 2002.

ANNOTATION

Defendant waived the right to the defense that a corporation, and not the individual defendant, was the employer. The defendant failed to assert that she was not an "employer" until after the conclusion of the trial. Levy-Wegrzyn v. Ediger, 899 P.2d 230 (Colo. App. 1994).

Plaintiff is entitled to reasonable attorney fees for defending the judgment on appeal. The fundamental purpose of awarding attorney fees is to make the plaintiff whole and this purpose would be frustrated by a requirement that plaintiff pay attorney fees to defend the employer's appeal. Levy-Wegrzyn v. Ediger, 899 P.2d 230 (Colo. App. 1994).