Editor: The recently-introduced “Fair Workweek Employment Standards,” also known as House Bill 23- 1118, will hurt our state’s businesses and cause additional pain for workers across the state during a period of economic crisis.
The Common Sense Institute examined the bill and found that the regulations would lead to a cost increase of up to $5,800 per shift employee. Keep in mind, Colorado already ranks 36th in the “Cost of Doing Business” by CNBC.
With margins as small as they can be in restaurant and retail businesses, onerous regulations make an impact, and House Bill 23-1118 is full of them. It requires that employees receive “predictability pay” if their schedules change at the last minute, “rest shortfall pay” if they don’t get at least twelve hours between shifts, “retention pay” if a new employee gets offered a shift before they do, and “minimum weekly pay” if their schedule is lighter on a certain week.
I’m sure that accountants and payroll professionals are frothing at the mouth about the prospect of being able to charge more to comply with a law like this, but Coloradans writ large should be perturbed.
Some industries are inherently unpredictable, but House Bill 23-118 gives them no flexibility.
Legislators should reject this bill because it’ll only lead to less hiring, more layoffs, and
businesses choosing to expand in other states instead of Colorado.
—Michael Fields, via letters@sentinelcolorado.com
Sounds like a push toward having robots instead of real people as employees.