Director to review report. — Colorado Code § 8-6-111

§ 8-6-111. Director to review report.

(1) Upon the receipt of a report from a wage board, the director shall review the same and may approve or disapprove any determination or recommit the subject to the same or a new wage board. If the director approves any of the determinations of the wage board, said director shall publish notice not less than once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which any business directly affected thereby is located, that he will, on a date and at a place named in said notice, hold a public meeting, at which all persons in favor of or opposed to said recommendations will be given a hearing.

(2) After publication of notice and the meeting, the director may issue an order to adopt the recommendations and carry them into effect and to require all employees in the occupation directly affected by the recommendations to preserve and comply with the recommendations and order. The order becomes effective thirty days after it is made. After the order is effective, it is unlawful for any employer to violate or disregard any of the terms of the order or to employ any worker in any occupation covered by the order at lower wages or under other conditions than authorized or permitted by the order. The director shall, as far as is practicable, mail a copy of any such order to every employer affected by the order, and every employer affected by the order shall keep a copy of the order posted in a conspicuous place in the employer's establishment. The order must include a notice of the contents of sections 8-12-105 (3), 8-12-116, and 8-12-118.

(3) In case of an emergency the director may authorize or permit the employment of any person for more hours per day or per week than the maximum now fixed by law.

(4) Overtime, at a rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay, may be permitted by the director under conditions and rules and for increased minimum wages which the director, after investigation, determines and prescribes by order and which shall apply equally to all employers in such industry or occupation.

Source: L. 17: p. 386, § 11. C.L. § 4272. CSA: C. 97, § 246. CRS 53: § 80-9-10. C.R.S. 1963: § 80-7-10. L. 69: p. 607, § 93. L. 77: (2), (3), and (4) amended, p. 431, § 10, effective July 1. L. 86: (4) amended, p. 472, § 33, effective July 1. L. 2000: (2) amended, p. 1487, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2024: (2) amended, (HB 24-1095), ch. 378, p. 2567, § 6, effective January 1, 2025.

Cross references: For the maximum number of hours minors may be employed, see § 8-12-105; for the general eight-hour day requirement, see article 13 of this title 8.

ANNOTATION

Pursuant to Colorado's Minimum Wage Act, the director of the Colorado division of labor has been delegated the authority to investigate and determine the wages and employment conditions in certain occupations. If, following such investigation, the director finds that employment conditions in any industry endanger employees' health or morals, the director may directly or through a "wage board" adopt a wage order to establish minimum wage rates and standard conditions of employment in the affected industry. Weissman v. Crawford Rehab. Servs., 914 P.2d 380 (Colo. App. 1995).

Companions employed by third-party employers—as opposed to by households or family members—fall within the companionship exemption of the Colorado minimum wage order, promulgated under subsection (4). As a result, companions employed by third-party employers are not entitled to overtime wages under Colorado law. Jordan v. Maxim Healthcare Servs., 950 F.3d 724 (10th Cir. 2020).