Colorado Labor and Employment Law 2019 Outlook

Predicting twelve months of legal changes, even in labor law or employment law, is a tough game in 2019. We have an unpredictable White House, a recent change to the U.S. Supreme Court and turnover in the U.S. House and Colorado Senate in favor of Democrats. It may simply be too early to tell how 2019 will treat Colorado, if only because we do not even know what bills legislators will submit to the federal and state legislatures.

That said, we can look at the changes for 2019 in existing federal and Colorado law and at least set up some basic predictions about how labor and employment law may change for Coloradans this year.

Changes to federal labor law and employment law in 2019

Federal employment law changes are already on the books for the administrative agencies. Executive Order 13658 increases minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.60/hour (or $7.40/hour for tipped employees who suffer the tip credit).

Beginning January 14, 2019, 45 C.F.R. § 147.132 and 45 C.F.R. § 147.133 allow certain private employers to opt out of federally required contraceptive coverage if the employer has a sincere moral or religious objection to covering contraceptives on the employer’s health insurance plan.

Additionally, the EEOC published new rules on wellness program incentives that take effect on the first day of 2019. Previously employers were permitted under EEOC guidance to grant employees up to a 30% discount on health insurance premiums if the employee participated in an employer-sponsored wellness program without violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). In late 2018 a federal district court ruled the incentive rules could render a wellness program involuntary and run afoul the ADA and GINA.

Changes under Colorado labor law and employment law for 2019

Colorado state law will also see a significant change. Beginning January 1, 2019, a minimum wage increase goes into effect. In 2016 Amendment 70 to the Colorado Constitution was passed by voters establishing a new minimum wage regime for the state. Each year through 2020 minimum wage increases by a fixed amount. Subsequent years will increase with inflation.

The 2019 Colorado minimum wage is $11.10/hourly. (Read here to learn more about the Colorado minimum wage for 2019 and years forward.) Colorado joins twenty-one other states increasing minimum wage above the federal minimum wage in 2019.