In May 2022, Colorado passed a new law requiring employers to provide a notice to all separating employees alerting them that unemployment compensation benefits may be available. Specifically, Section 8-74-101(4) of the Colorado Revised Statutes provides that at the time of separation, employers must provide each employee, in electronic or hard copy format, information regarding the availability of unemployment compensation benefits. The notice must include the following information: (a) the employer’s name and address; (b) the employee’s name and address; (c) the employee’s identification number or the last four numbers of the employee’s Social Security number; (d) the employee’s start date, date of last day worked, year-to-date earnings and wages for the last week the employee worked; and (e) the reason the employee separated from the employer.
Since May, because the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (“CDLE”) had not issued a form, employers had to create their own notices to fulfill this obligation. However, last week, the CDLE released Employer Separation Form 22-234, which serves a model unemployment notice complying with the requirement of the new law. The form is available here.
Employers should add the form to their termination procedures, and to the extent there are concerns about listing the reasons an employee is being separated, consult with legal counsel to mitigate risk.
This document is intended to provide you with general information regarding the requirement for Colorado employers to provide information on unemployment compensation for separating employees. The contents of this document are not intended to provide specific legal advice. If you have any questions about the contents of this document or if you need legal advice as to an issue, please contact the attorneys listed or your regular Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP attorney. This communication may be considered advertising in some jurisdictions. The information in this article is accurate as of the publication date. Because the law in this area is changing rapidly, and insights are not automatically updated, continued accuracy cannot be guaranteed.