There is a new strategy among Colorado’s Republican legislators in their war against workers. Laura Bradford is leading the charge to eliminate accrued leave and sick time benefits. Courts have protected these benefits, but the GOP and ALEC have started the drum beat to get rid of them.
Here’s the deal: If part of your employer’s policy is to allow you to earn sick days or vacation days, they are considered part of your compensation package. Sick pay seems to be treated differently than vacation pay under the law. If you don’t take vacation days, but rather save them up to use at a future point in time, they still represent money that is owed to you. If you quit your job or are laid off, all money owed to you, including the vacation time that you earned while employed, needs to be included in your final paycheck. For Colorado State workers, both accrued vacation and accrued sick time is included in the final paycheck. I spent my whole life working in the private sector, where I left quite a few jobs. I always was paid for accrued vacation time, but never was paid for accrued sick time.
The State of Colorado’s official website has this to say. “Colorado wage law provides that vacation pay, earned in accordance with the terms of any agreement, is classified as wages or compensation. If an employer provides paid vacation for an employee, the employer shall pay upon separation from employment all vacation pay earned and determinable in accordance with the terms of any agreement between the employer and the employee.”
Charles Ashby, who happens to be my favorite reporter at the Sentinel, first reported on the impact of this policy on state finances in a story published a week ago. Since the crash of 2008, Colorado has paid out almost $60 million in accrued benefits, and owes almost $400 million to current state employees. I have been unable to determine how much of the $60 million already paid was for accrued sick time vs accrued vacation pay. According to Ashby, current policy is that employees can accrue no more than 360 hours of sick time, which represents nine weeks of pay if each week is 40 hours long. Currently when they leave employment, they are paid for 25% of any sick pay that has been “banked.” That amounts to a little less than two and a half weeks worth of pay.
Both the Sentinel, in an editorial, and Laura Bradford have stated that the policy of paying for accrued sick pay must be stopped. ColoradoWINS has vowed to fight any attempt to change the current policy. I’m not privy to their employment contracts, so I don’t know if this policy is included in a legally binding document. Given the economic strain that the state is under, and considering the way that employees are treated in the private sector, paying for accrued sick leave is hard to justify.
But we need to look at the bigger picture here. This is just the latest salvo in the ALEC and GOP war against workers. In January reporters discovered that ALEC was advising state lawmakers about ways to decrease pension benefits for state workers. Think Progress reported on their efforts to eliminate sick pay: “PR Watch obtained documents from ALEC’s 2011 Annual Meeting showing that one of the group’s committees — the Labor and Business Regulation Subcommittee of the Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force — focused its entire meeting on the issue of paid sick leave. Task force members, who are legislators, were given copies of a bill …”
Laura Bradford is a member of ALEC. Laura Bradford plans to introduce legislation to stop the payment of accrued sick pay for workers leaving the employ of the state. This is just one more battle in the war against workers.
First they came for pension benefits, then they came for sick pay benefits, then they came for vacation pay benefits… Anybody who thinks that we are not engaged in class warfare is dreaming. I’m standing with the 99% of Americans at the bottom and the unions that work to preserve our benefits.
Homework
Colorado Rule on Accrued Vacation Pay
Sentinel Story Abut Bradford's intent to introduce legislation
Story About ALEC vs Pension Benefits
Story About ALEC Working to Eliminate Paid Sick Time Laws Nationally
Here’s the deal: If part of your employer’s policy is to allow you to earn sick days or vacation days, they are considered part of your compensation package. Sick pay seems to be treated differently than vacation pay under the law. If you don’t take vacation days, but rather save them up to use at a future point in time, they still represent money that is owed to you. If you quit your job or are laid off, all money owed to you, including the vacation time that you earned while employed, needs to be included in your final paycheck. For Colorado State workers, both accrued vacation and accrued sick time is included in the final paycheck. I spent my whole life working in the private sector, where I left quite a few jobs. I always was paid for accrued vacation time, but never was paid for accrued sick time.
The State of Colorado’s official website has this to say. “Colorado wage law provides that vacation pay, earned in accordance with the terms of any agreement, is classified as wages or compensation. If an employer provides paid vacation for an employee, the employer shall pay upon separation from employment all vacation pay earned and determinable in accordance with the terms of any agreement between the employer and the employee.”
Charles Ashby, who happens to be my favorite reporter at the Sentinel, first reported on the impact of this policy on state finances in a story published a week ago. Since the crash of 2008, Colorado has paid out almost $60 million in accrued benefits, and owes almost $400 million to current state employees. I have been unable to determine how much of the $60 million already paid was for accrued sick time vs accrued vacation pay. According to Ashby, current policy is that employees can accrue no more than 360 hours of sick time, which represents nine weeks of pay if each week is 40 hours long. Currently when they leave employment, they are paid for 25% of any sick pay that has been “banked.” That amounts to a little less than two and a half weeks worth of pay.
Both the Sentinel, in an editorial, and Laura Bradford have stated that the policy of paying for accrued sick pay must be stopped. ColoradoWINS has vowed to fight any attempt to change the current policy. I’m not privy to their employment contracts, so I don’t know if this policy is included in a legally binding document. Given the economic strain that the state is under, and considering the way that employees are treated in the private sector, paying for accrued sick leave is hard to justify.
But we need to look at the bigger picture here. This is just the latest salvo in the ALEC and GOP war against workers. In January reporters discovered that ALEC was advising state lawmakers about ways to decrease pension benefits for state workers. Think Progress reported on their efforts to eliminate sick pay: “PR Watch obtained documents from ALEC’s 2011 Annual Meeting showing that one of the group’s committees — the Labor and Business Regulation Subcommittee of the Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force — focused its entire meeting on the issue of paid sick leave. Task force members, who are legislators, were given copies of a bill …”
Laura Bradford is a member of ALEC. Laura Bradford plans to introduce legislation to stop the payment of accrued sick pay for workers leaving the employ of the state. This is just one more battle in the war against workers.
First they came for pension benefits, then they came for sick pay benefits, then they came for vacation pay benefits… Anybody who thinks that we are not engaged in class warfare is dreaming. I’m standing with the 99% of Americans at the bottom and the unions that work to preserve our benefits.
Homework
Colorado Rule on Accrued Vacation Pay
Sentinel Story Abut Bradford's intent to introduce legislation
Story About ALEC vs Pension Benefits
Story About ALEC Working to Eliminate Paid Sick Time Laws Nationally
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