The bill increases penalties for violations of the Colorado Youth
Employment Opportunity Act of 1971 (act) and requires that the penalties be deposited into the wage theft enforcement fund. Entities that violate the act must also pay specified damages to the individual who is aggrieved. The bill eliminates a provision in current law penalizing a person, having legal responsibility for a minor, who knowingly permits the minor to be employed in violation of the act.
The director of the division of labor standards and statistics
(director) is required to include a description of the penalties and damages owed in the written notice issued to an employer if the act is violated.
The division of labor standards and statistics is required to treat all
final orders issued for violations of the act as public records and to release information related to a violation to the public upon request pursuant to the Colorado Open Records Act, unless the director makes a determination that the information is a trade secret.
The director may, or, at the request of the individual aggrieved,
must, file a certified copy of a final order for a violation of the act with the clerk of any court having jurisdiction over the parties at any time after the entry of the order.
The bill applies the state's discrimination and retaliation
prohibitions to individuals attempting to exercise rights protected by the act and creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliatory action if an entity engages in adverse action against an individual aggrieved within 90 calendar days after the individual aggrieved exercises a right protected by the act.
