Colorado § 8-70-141 - Wages - definition.

§ 8-70-141. Wages - definition.

(1) "Wages" means:

(a) All remuneration for personal services, including the cash value of all remuneration paid in any medium other than cash, other than remuneration paid in other than cash to an agricultural worker or a domestic worker. When an employing unit during a calendar year acquires the experience of an employer as provided in section 8-76-104 and if, immediately after such acquisition, the successor employer continues to employ an individual who immediately prior to the acquisition was an employee of the predecessor, any remuneration previously paid to the individual by the predecessor shall be considered as having been paid by the successor.

(b) (I) Repealed.

(II) Any amount treated as an employer contribution under 26 U.S.C. sec. 414 (h)(2); and

(III) Any employer contribution under a nonqualified deferred compensation plan. For the purposes of this subparagraph (III), "nonqualified deferred compensation plan" means any plan or other arrangement for deferral of compensation other than a plan described in section 8-70-142 (1)(c). Any amount deferred under a nonqualified deferred compensation plan shall be taken into account for the purposes of this paragraph (b) as of the date that the services are performed or the date that there is no substantial risk of forfeiture of the rights to such amount, whichever date is later, and shall not thereafter be treated as "wages" for the purposes of this section.

(IV) Any payment included in the definition of wages in the "Federal Unemployment Tax Act".

(c) Tips which are received while performing services that constitute employment and which are made known to the employer through a written statement furnished to him by the employee; and

(d) (I) With respect to weeks of unemployment beginning on or after January 1, 1978, wages for insured work paid for previously uncovered services. For the purposes of this paragraph (d), "previously uncovered services" means services which were not employment as defined in sections 8-70-126 to 8-70-140.8 and were not services covered pursuant to section 8-76-107 at any time during the one-year period ending December 31, 1975, and:

(A) Which are agricultural labor as defined in section 8-70-103 or domestic service as defined in section 8-70-121; or

(B) Which are services performed by an employee of this state or a political subdivision thereof, as provided for in section 8-70-119, or by an employee of a nonprofit educational institution which is not an institution of higher education, as provided for in section 8-70-103 (15).

(II) "Previously uncovered services" shall not apply to services to the extent that assistance under Title II of the "Emergency Jobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974" was paid on the basis of such services.

Source: L. 90: Entire section added, p. 599, § 3, effective April 3. L. 96: IP(1)(d)(I) amended, p. 381, § 3, effective April 17. L. 2006: (1)(b)(I) and IP(1)(d)(I) amended, p. 1517, § 87, effective June 1. L. 2016: (1)(b)(I) repealed, (SB 16-189), ch. 210, p. 755, § 10, effective June 6.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Since the substantive provisions of this section are identical to former § 8-70-103 (22), relevant cases construing that provision have been included under this section.

Definition of "services". Consulting agreement that required claimant to make himself available if needed was a contract for "services" regardless of whether claimant actually performed any work, hence payments to claimant under the contract were wages as defined in this section. Magin v. Division of Emp., 899 P.2d 369 (Colo. App. 1995).

Conclusion that employer's payments were "for" personal services claimant provided, and therefore constituted "wages", is not erroneous. The undisputed evidence shows that claimant was required to demonstrate that he performed services for the union to receive payment and that all payments the union made to claimant directly corresponded to actual time he worked for the union. Commc'ns Workers v. Indus. Claim Appeals office, 2012 COA 148, 292 P.3d 1127.

A separation allowance comes within the definition of the term "wages" as contained in this section, for the allowance, which is based upon length of service and weekly wage, is an obligation which the employer is legally bound to pay under the terms of the union contract. Indus. Comm'n v. Sirokman, 134 Colo. 481, 306 P.2d 669 (1957).

Receipt of employee benefits does not constitute wages for purposes of this section. Denver Post, Inc. v. Dept. of Labor & Emp., 199 Colo. 466, 610 P.2d 1075 (1980).

The term "wages" shall not include the payments made to the claimant after being injured while discharging her duties because payments were not made as remuneration for personal services. City and County of Denver v. Indus. Comm'n, 707 P.2d 1008 (Colo. App. 1985).