Colorado § 26-2-1103 - Transitional jobs program.

§ 26-2-1103. Transitional jobs program.

(1) The state department shall administer a transitional jobs program. The transitional jobs program must:

(a) Seek to offer the opportunity to work in transitional jobs to eligible individuals from July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2029; except that no new transitional jobs shall be offered after December 31, 2028;

(b) To the greatest extent possible, provide priority transitional job offers to the following groups of eligible individuals, with the highest priority being given to individuals meeting one or more of the following categories:

(I) Noncustodial parents;

(II) Veterans; or

(III) Displaced workers that are fifty years of age or older;

(c) Pay eligible workers at least the applicable minimum wage; and

(d) Place transitional job workers, to the greatest extent feasible, with host-site employers that are small and medium-sized firms that have no more than fifty full-time-equivalent employees.

(2) To be eligible for a transitional job, an individual must:

(a) Be a legal United States resident or otherwise lawfully present and eligible for work in the United States;

(b) Be a resident of Colorado;

(c) Be at least eighteen years of age;

(d) Not be incarcerated and be able to work;

(e) Have a family income of below one hundred fifty percent of the federal poverty level, as adjusted for family size;

(f) Be unemployed or underemployed for no more than twenty hours per week, for at least four consecutive weeks; and

(g) Demonstrate that he or she has actively sought employment utilizing the public workforce system.

(3) An individual who is eligible for a transitional job under subsection (2) of this section may be offered a transitional job, subject to the availability of funds, on the following terms:

(a) The transitional job may not displace any existing employee, or result in filling a job from which an employee was recently terminated, or involve the transitional job worker in a labor dispute;

(b) The transitional job must pay at least the applicable minimum wage, and the wage may be increased with funds provided by the host site or a third party;

(c) The transitional job must provide no fewer than eight hours of work per week of transitional job work and may provide up to forty hours of work per week of transitional job work;

(d) Each transitional job may provide up to thirty total weeks of transitional job work, not to exceed three placements as a transitional job worker with up to three host sites; except that, subject to guidelines provided by the state department, a local agency contractor may offer and provide an individual who remains eligible for a transitional job additional weeks of transitional job work; and

(e) The individual employed in a transitional job must demonstrate that he or she is actively seeking employment utilizing the public workforce system.

(4) The transitional jobs program must operate throughout Colorado, but, based on the availability of funding, the state department may:

(a) Phase in the transitional jobs program in 2013 and 2014 or over a longer time period as determined necessary by the state department; or

(b) Limit the transitional jobs programs to urban and rural counties designated by the state department based on criteria relating to unemployment, poverty, and other factors that the state department identifies.

(5) The state department shall:

(a) Require data reporting and performance outcomes;

(b) Evaluate the outcomes of the transitional jobs program and present the results of its evaluation in a timely and structured manner; and

(c) Rigorously monitor all contracts and ensure full compliance by all contractors with their contractual obligations.

(6) The state department shall use a competitive request for proposal process to select local agency contractors and shall negotiate contracts with the government or nonprofit or for-profit organizations that submit the strongest proposals.

(7) The state department may offer incentives to local agency contractors for high performance.

(8) The state department shall:

(a) Determine the most effective and efficient process and mechanisms to provide employer of record services;

(b) Establish standards and procedures for considering and approving the applications of organizations that apply to function as employers of record; and

(c) Approve the applications of those organizations that apply to be employers of record if the state department determines the organizations will meet all applicable standards in the most effective and efficient manner and at the lowest cost.

(9) An organization may submit an application to be an employer of record, a local agency contractor, or both. The state department shall review and make decisions about the application of an organization to be an employer of record in the same manner, and using the same criteria, regardless of whether the organization previously never was, previously was, currently is, previously applied to be, or is currently applying to be a local agency contractor. The state department shall review and make decisions about the application of an organization to be a local agency contractor in the same manner, and using the same criteria, regardless of whether the organization never was, previously was, currently is, previously applied to be, or is currently applying to be an employer of record. An employer of record or a local agency contractor, consistent with criteria that the state department may establish, may also serve as a host site employer.

(10) The state department shall utilize any moneys for the transitional jobs program in the following manner:

(a) Transitional jobs program moneys must be used to reimburse the employer of record for the following wage-related costs for each individual who works in a transitional job:

(I) Wage costs equal to the number of hours of transitional jobs work performed for and certified by a host-site employer times the agreed upon wage, which wage must be at least the applicable minimum wage but may be defined by the funding source; and

(II) All resulting payroll taxes, including the employer of record's share of FICA taxes, medicare taxes, any applicable unemployment insurance taxes, and any applicable worker's compensation costs.

(b) The host site or a third party may increase the wage per hour or other compensation that an individual employed in a transitional job receives and shall be responsible for all wages, payroll tax, and other costs associated with the increase.

(c) Transitional jobs program moneys also shall be used to pay for:

(I) Administrative costs incurred by the state department, including payments to employers of record; and

(II) Payments to competitively selected local contracting agencies, pursuant to their contracts, for program and administrative costs actually incurred.

Source: L. 2013: Entire part added, (HB 13-1004), ch. 357, p. 2099, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2014: (1)(a) amended, (HB 14-1015), ch. 212, p. 791, § 1, effective August 6. L. 2016: (1)(a) amended, (HB 16-1290), ch. 191, p. 678, § 1, effective August 10. L. 2018: (1)(a) amended, (HB 18-1334), ch. 190, p. 1271, § 1, effective August 8. L. 2023: (1)(a) amended, (SB 23-226), ch. 91, p. 344, § 2, effective August 7.