With the ball officially dropping on 2024 and the Colorado Legislature ringing the bell to start the 2025 legislative session, businesses and human-resources professionals can pull out their crystal balls to forecast what 2025 will bring.

After all, as the old saying goes, the only constant in human resources law is change, and more change. So, what changes are anticipated at the Colorado Legislature in 2025? Well, even though we’re only a few days into the new legislative session, the clear answer to that question appears to be “a lot.”

Here are a few things we’ll be keeping an eye on in 2025:

The Colorado Legislature proposes changes to the Colorado Labor Peace Act.

Way back in 1943, Colorado passed the Colorado Labor Peace Act. This act requires that if a union receives more than 50 percent of the votes in an election to unionize a company’s workforce that a second election vote must be held where the employees will vote on whether the company will be considered a “union shop.”

A union shop is defined as an organization in which the employees are required to join a labor union as part of their employment. In essence, employees in a union shop must join the union, whereas employees who work in companies that aren’t a union shop can decide whether they want to join the union as part of their employment. In this second election, more than 75 percent of the employees must vote in favor of the company becoming a union shop.

Now, the Colorado Legislature is seeking to amend that act, which has stood for more than 80 years, by removing the requirement for the second election. Of course, this isn’t the first time the legislature has undertaken this effort. In 2007, the Colorado Legislature proposed and passed a similar bill only to have then-Gov. Bill Ritter veto the bill. So, this bill is likely to draw a lot of fireworks during the 2025 term.

Colorado Legislature proposes changes to Colorado’s Wage Act

While the revisions to the Colorado Labor Peace Act were drawing all of the attention, the first bill out of the chute this legislative session was a bill that would greatly amend Colorado’s Wage Act by providing increased penalties against employers who incorrectly classify workers as independent contractors when they should be classified as employees.

The bill also would provide employees more opportunities to file claims against their employers with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, instead of having to file those claims in court.

Finally, the bill also includes anti-retaliation measures for undocumented workers who report wage claims.

And speaking of wage claims…

In summer 2024, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera. This case involves the issue of what evidentiary standard courts should use when determining whether an employer has established that an employee meets one of the FLSA’s duty-basis tests.

As background, for an employee to be exempt from receiving overtime, the employer must establish that the employer paid the employee at least the relevant salary amount and that the employee meets one of the FLSA’s duty-basis tests (e.g., executive, administrative, professional, etc.)

Courts have traditionally held that when determining the duty-basis test, courts should use the “preponderance of the evidence” test, which means, in essence, that the majority of the evidence supports the decision.

In Carrera, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that was too low of a standard, and organizations must establish the employee met one of the FLSA’s tests by the “clear-and-convincing” standard, which carries a greater burden than the preponderance-of-the-evidence test.

If the Supreme Court chooses to follow the 4th Circuit, employers are going to have a much more difficult time establishing that employees meet the duty-basis test at issue, because they will need to meet the clear-and-convincing standard instead of the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard. A decision on this matter is expected sometime in 2025.

In sum, it’s certain to be an interesting 2025 for Colorado employers and human resources professionals.