The other shoe has dropped – with the weight of a wrecking ball – in the wake of last November’s election. Colorado’s rebuff of Republicans on the ballot appears to have emboldened legislative Democrats to draw a bead on the business community as never before.

That became clear as news emerged last week of what could be the mother of all business-busting legislation. Labeled “Fair Workweek Employment Standards,” a measure soon to be introduced would dictate details of work schedules, pay and other conditions for service workers across a broad swath of Colorado’s economy.

If adopted, the radical policy shift would make day-to-day operations nearly impossible for a host of businesses, even entire economic sectors, that rely on flexible-shift workers.

Colorado’s restaurants would be among the hardest hit. As our news affiliate Colorado Politics pointed out in its report on the pending measure, almost every food and beverage establishment (alongside retail businesses of any kind) would have to dole out “predictability pay” to workers sent home early due to slow business or other unforeseen circumstances.

That’s right; an industry that by definition can’t know in advance how many patrons will walk in the door on a given day or evening – would have to pay workers for work they didn’t do. 

Only another pandemic would be worse.

It says a lot about the newly expanded majority in the 2023 legislative session. It means ruling Democrats are about to escalate their frequent skirmishes with the state’s job creators – into all-out war. The bill’s author, Denver Democratic state Rep. Emily Sirota, hails from her party’s disgruntled fringe. How far her reckless mandate gets in the process will offer a gauge of how far into the radical unknown the rest of her caucus is willing to wander.

In addition to the food and beverage economy, the bill as written would target all retailers with 250 or more employees worldwide – even if only a handful are in Colorado. Ultimately, it’s any business: the place where you stop for coffee in the morning; where you buy groceries on the way home; where you tank up your car. The list goes on; all are in jeopardy.

The bill is a micromanager’s – make that, micro-dictator’s – fantasy. It is laden with a dizzying array of mandates that second-guess employees’ work schedules as well as their compensation in granular detail. It stands to paralyze employers. And then, bankrupt them.

Among the bill’s many dictates:

• Affected employees would have to be told their work schedule 14 days in advance – nearly impossible for much of the service industry.
• Employees would have to be paid a full hour’s wage for any time added to a shift and two full hours’ wages for any time subtracted from a shift. Laying off workers – or simply shutting down – could be the result.
• Overtime pay would be mandated for any hours an employee works within 12 hours of the last shift.

All of which illustrates a fundamental ignorance of how the service economy works. Flexible scheduling is essential to running a discount retailer, a fast-food franchise, a high-end eatery – you name it. The ebbs and flows of customers demand it. That flexibility often suits the needs and lifestyles of employees, too. They might be students juggling jobs with college classes; parents who need time with the kids, or part-timers supplementing pay from a full-time job.

The Colorado Chamber of Commerce hasn’t taken a formal stance on the bill, yet, because it hasn’t been introduced. But chamber President Loren Furman put it in perspective.

“The proposal fails to recognize the basic operational needs of businesses, and we’re concerned about the impact it will have on our economic climate and competitiveness,” Furman told us. “It would impose broad new regulations and restrictions on how employers manage scheduling practices, placing unnecessary and often unfeasible burdens on both businesses and workers.”

“We want Colorado to be a place where business leaders choose to invest, innovate and create jobs,” she said, “but policies like this only do more to drive companies out of the state.”

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board