New Colorado wage order will overhaul many overtime and minimum wage requirements

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has proposed its new wage order. This order, #36, will replace the current wage order, #35. The new wage order will overhaul Colorado law regarding overtime and minimum wage. Its many changes from current wage order #35 include:

• A title change: Reflecting the fact that this new order addresses far more than simple wages, its title will change from the “Colorado Wage Order” (WO) to the “Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards Order” (COMPS).
• COMPS 36 will now reach almost all private employers in Colorado. Previous WOs had applied only to the following four industries: retail and service, commercial support service, food and beverage, and health and medical. COMPS will apply to all employers as a general rule, unless the employer falls within one of the newly defined exemptions set forth in prosed Rule 2 of COMPS. Therefore employers who previously considered themselves exempt from the WOs should now review COMPS to determine if it will become covered.
• Minimum guaranteed salary: If covered COMPS will increase the minimum guaranteed salary to $42,500, effective 7/1/20, well above that in federal law. COMPS minimum will rise steeply thereafter, each year, to $57,500 effective 1/1/26 and be adjusted thereafter per the CPI.
• Changes to particular job-specific exemptions have been proposed.
• Changes to the timing of required rest periods and a requirement that employees who are not allowed their 10-minute rest period receive pay not only for the 10-minute rest period but an extra 10 minutes pay.
• Changes to the ability to take credits and the ability to charge for uniforms.
• Changes to the fluctuating workweek method of calculating overtime.
• Expansion of anti-retaliation protections.
• Expansion of employer obligations as to “transparency,” “language inclusiveness” and posters.

The CDLE has invited comments by 12/31/19 and stated its hope to release a final COMPS by 3/1/20 to become effective 7/1/20.

Source: See the CDLE’s webpage re its proposed COMPS 36.