State will not provide Colorado with more hours of COVID sick leave if hours are all used up
COLORADO (KRDO) -- As the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants continue to circulate throughout the U.S., Colorado officials say the 80-hour Public Health Emergency sick leave enacted in January 2021 will not increase. However, Colorado officials say the federal government will extend the Public Health Emergency on Friday for another 90-day period.
Since January 1, 2021, Coloradan employers have been required to provide full-time employees with 80 hours of paid leave for COVID-related needs. These hours, under Public Health Emergency (PHE) leave, are still in effect, but the amount of hours has not been renewed since the initial 2021 date, meaning those who used PHE hours in 2021 did not receive more leave hours for 2022 even if they were re-infected with the virus.
According to state law, Colorado must provide PHE leave if there is a federal, state, or local declaration of emergency. Colorado's COVID sick leave continues to exist through federal extensions of the country's COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
The U.S. declared a Public Health Emergency through the Public Health Service Act on January 31, 2020. Since then, the emergency has been renewed nine times -- on April 20, 2020, July 23, 2020, October 2, 2020, January 7, 2021, April 15, 2021, July 19, 2021, October 15, 2021, January 7, 2022, and April 12, 2022, effective April 16, 2022.
The last 90-day renewal in April is set to expire Friday. On Friday, Colorado officials say the country will renew the Emergency status for another 90 days.
