Colorado’s Newly Amended Employment Security Act Expands Benefits for Individuals Affected by Domestic Violence
By Aaron Chaet
Effective January 1, 2021, Senate Bill 20-170, FN1 amended two key provisions to Colorado’s Employment Security Act (“ESA”): (1) expanding unemployment benefits for individuals who experience joblessness as a result of domestic violence;FN2 and (2) providing that severance may be deducted from an individual’s overall entitlement to unemployment compensation.FN3
Colorado expanded unemployment benefits for individual affected by domestic violence by revising the eligibility requirements. As revised, the ESA provides that an individual may be entitled to a full award of unemployment compensation if the individual “reasonably believes that the worker’s continued employment would jeopardize the safety of the worker or any member of the worker’s immediate family.”FN4 The amendment also removed the requirement that individuals provide substantiating documentation such as an active or recently issued protective order or police records.FN5 The amended ESA also provides a more inclusive definition of “immediate family” which now includes “a sibling of an individual who is under eighteen and for whom the individual stands in loco parentis; or a sibling of the individual who is incapable of self-care due to a mental or physical disability or a long-term illness.”FN6
The ESA also now states that severance compensation received by an individual will be deducted from the total amount of unemployment compensation that an individual may receive. As revised, the ESA now provides that unemployment compensation “most be postponed” by the number of weeks equal to the severance amount divided by the individual’s usual weekly wages.FN7
TAKEAWAY
Colorado employers should be cognizant of the recent amendment to the ESA when determining whether to contest unemployment benefits or how to structure severance packages. Employers with questions about the recent amendment to the ESA should contact the attorneys at Campbell Litigation.
Footnotes:
FN1 – SB 20-170 available at https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2020a_170_signed.pdf
FN2 – C.R.S. § 8-73-108(r)(I)
FN3 – C.R.S. § 8-73-110(1)(a)
FN4 – C.R.S. § 8-73-108(r)(I)
FN5 – SB 20-170 available at https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2020a_170_signed.pdf
FN6 – C.R.S. § 8-70-103(14.5)
FN7 – C.R.S. § 8-73-110(1)(a)