What's New in State Laws: Colorado
Colorado Antidiscrimination Act
New law adds "hair length" to the states existing CROWN Act definition of "race" for purposes of the state's antidiscrimination laws (HB 1451, Reg. Sess. (Colo. 2024)).
Colorado Workers' Compensation Law
Law relating to workers' disability benefits was amended to allow claimants to refuse offers of modified employment under specific conditions, such as when the modified employment would require travel exceeding 50 miles or when a treating physician has restricted the claimant from driving. It also increases the aggregate limits on temporary and permanent injury benefits and mandates that the Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation adjust these limits annually. Further, the legislation requires workers' compensation insurers to pay benefits via direct deposit if requested by the claimant (HB 1220 (Colo. 2024), effective Aug. 7, 2024, and January 1, 2025).
The bill was signed into law by the Governor on June 4, 2024, and the bill takes effect on August 7, 2024, assuming no referendum petition is filed. The bill applies to claims on or after that date, except that increasing the caps on certain claimant benefits takes effect January 1, 2025, and applies to claims arising on or after that date.
Source(s): Gallagher via Wolters Kluwer, received on October 8, 2024; leg.colorado.gov, accessed on October 10, 2024
This was an e-mail Compliance received from Gallagher "Compliance Directions", received on Tuesday October 8, 2024. We decided to break the information out by State. Compliance Calendar will be updated appropriately.