Numerous changes to Colorado law will affect employers in 2024. Has your employee handbook kept up with those changes? An accurate, up-to-date handbook promotes productive relationships between employers and employees by clearly explaining the expectations of both parties. An inaccurate or out-of-date handbook results in misunderstandings and distrust.

As a threshold matter, should employers have employee handbooks? Yes. Next question. Seriously, a good employee handbook provides employees clear guidance while keeping the organization compliant with changing employment laws.

But employers should understand the purpose and limitations of a handbook. An employee handbook isn’t a policy or procedure manual. It isn’t a list of rules, although it might include general procedural, performance and conduct expectations.

A handbook provides guidelines that apply to all employees. Consider adopting internal procedures to handle expectations, procedures or rules for departments or smaller work teams. Finally, a handbook is for employees. There’s no need to include information about job applications or the application and hiring process.

Employers should consistently review employee handbooks to ensure they meet needs and remain legally accurate. With all the changes to Colorado law in the last year or two, the start of 2024 constitutes a good time to review handbooks for legal accuracy.

Here’s a checklist of handbook sections employers should review in light of recent changes to Colorado law:

Harassment policy: The Protecting Opportunities And Workers’ Rights Act lowered the standard for proving harassment. An employee no longer needs to prove harassment is severe or pervasive.

Medical and sick leave policies: Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) benefits became available Jan 1. Employers should make sure make sure their Family and Medical Leave Act and non-FMLA medical leave and other policies related to time off for medical conditions are consistent. The State of Colorado has issued guidance on coordinating FAMLI with other benefits at https://famli.colorado.gov/employers/employer-faqs.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has issued guidance on how FAMLI coordinates with Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA) sick leave in INFO No. 6C, available at https://cdle.colorado.gov/infos.

Sick leave: In addition to coordinating sick leave with FAMLI benefits, the HFWA was amended in 2023 to add new circumstances under which employees may take sick leave.

Military leave: In 2023, the Colorado Legislature amended laws on leave for National Guard service to provide all employees who are members of the Colorado National Guard or Reserves are entitled to up to three weeks of annual leave for certain military service rather than the 15-day allotment under prior law. This act also clarified job protections for Guard and Reserve service members.

Promotions: The Ensure Equal Pay for Equal Work Act amended Colorado law on the posting of job opportunities, including promotions. The law requires employers to notify employees of job opportunities posted both internally and externally. Employers must notify certain employees when positions are filled.

Confidentiality, conflict of interest and workplace rules: In 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) restricted private employers’ rules that would chill employees’ speech on terms and conditions of employment. A workplace rule that would have a reasonable tendency to chill employees from exercising their National Labor Relations Act rights now is presumptively unlawful. The employer may rebut the presumption by proving the rule advances a legitimate and substantial business interest and the employer is unable to advance that interest with a more narrowly tailored rule. This is not a Colorado legal change, but affects workplace rules.

Now’s the time for employers to review their employee handbooks and have handbooks reviewed by human resources professionals or an attorney. The Employers Council makes available to its members white papers on all the above topics as well as sample policies with legal and administrative analysis of all topics in employee handbooks. Employers Council handbook reviews are included in the cost of consulting and enterprise memberships.