Colorado § 8-13.3-404 - Use of paid sick leave - purposes - time increments.

§ 8-13.3-404. Use of paid sick leave - purposes - time increments.

(1) An employer shall allow an employee to use the employee's accrued paid sick leave to be absent from work when:

(a) The employee:

(I) Has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition that prevents the employee from working;

(II) Needs to obtain a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition;

(III) Needs to obtain preventive medical care; or

(IV) Needs to grieve, attend funeral services or a memorial, or deal with financial and legal matters that arise after the death of a family member;

(b) The employee needs to care for a family member who:

(I) Has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition;

(II) Needs to obtain a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; or

(III) Needs to obtain preventive medical care;

(c) The employee or the employee's family member has been the victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment and the use of leave is to:

(I) Seek medical attention for the employee or the employee's family member to recover from a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition caused by the domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment;

(II) Obtain services from a victim services organization;

(III) Obtain mental health or other counseling;

(IV) Seek relocation due to the domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment; or

(V) Seek legal services, including preparation for or participation in a civil or criminal proceeding relating to or resulting from the domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment;

(d) Due to a public health emergency, a public official has ordered closure of:

(I) The employee's place of business; or

(II) The school or place of care of the employee's child and the employee needs to be absent from work to care for the employee's child;

(e) The employee needs to care for a family member whose school or place of care has been closed due to inclement weather, loss of power, loss of heating, loss of water, or other unexpected occurrence or event that results in the closure of the family member's school or place of care; or

(f) The employee needs to evacuate the employee's place of residence due to inclement weather, loss of power, loss of heating, loss of water, or other unexpected occurrence or event that results in the need to evacuate the employee's residence.

(2) An employer shall allow an employee to use paid sick leave upon the request of an employee. The request may be made orally, in writing, electronically, or by any other means acceptable to the employer. When possible, the employee shall include the expected duration of the absence. An employer may provide a written policy that contains reasonable procedures for the employee to provide notice when the use of paid sick leave taken under this section is foreseeable. An employer shall not deny paid sick leave to the employee based on noncompliance with such a policy.

(3) An employee must use paid sick leave in hourly increments unless the employee's employer allows paid sick leave to be taken in smaller increments of time.

(4) An employer shall not require, as a condition of providing paid sick leave under this part 4, an employee who uses paid sick leave to search for or find a replacement worker to cover the time during which the employee is absent from work.

(5) When the use of paid sick leave taken under this section is foreseeable, the employee shall make a good-faith effort to provide notice of the need for paid sick leave to the employee's employer in advance of the use of the paid sick leave and shall make a reasonable effort to schedule the use of paid sick leave in a manner that does not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.

(6) Notwithstanding section 8-13.3-405 (4)(b), for paid sick leave of four or more consecutive work days, an employer may require reasonable documentation that the paid sick leave is for a purpose authorized by this part 4.

Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (SB 20-205), ch. 294, p. 1447, § 1, effective July 14. L. 2023: (1)(a)(II), (1)(a)(III), and (1)(c)(V) amended and (1)(a)(IV), (1)(e), and (1)(f) added, (SB 23-017), ch. 313, p. 1906, § 1, effective August 7.