NOTE: THIS IS THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF CLIENT ALERTS OUTLINING RECENT CHANGES TO COLORADO'S EMPLOYMENT LAWS, MOST OF WHICH TAKE EFFECT AUG. 10.
Throughout the 2022 Colorado legislative session, the General Assembly enacted numerous laws impacting the landscape of employment law within the state. Notably, two laws expand protections for whistleblowers and threaten hefty damages for employers that run afoul of them. Senate Bill 22-097, labeled “Whistleblower Protection Health and Safety,” and House Bill 22-1119, the Colorado False Claims Act (the “CFCA”), both confer sweeping protections to employees who raise protected concerns about their employer and face subsequent adverse employment actions
SB 22-097 expands the “Public Health Emergency Whistleblower” law, or PHEW, which was originally enacted in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. PHEW covers employers with five or more employees or independent contractors and gives workers (including contractors) the right to express concerns regarding workplace health or safety violations during a public health emergency and to be free from retaliation. The amendments, which became effective May 31, 2022, expand these statutory protections to workers (including contractors) who raise health- or safety-related complaints, not just about COVID-19 or other public health emergencies, but for all workplace health and safety situations. Indeed, although Colorado has not traditionally had...
On Friday, April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has agreed to pay just over $17 million to resolve allegations that ...