Today is March 15, 2024, and here’s what you need to know:

Colorado Supreme Court weighs Amazon's obligation to pay millions more in overtime

Members of the state Supreme Court heard on Wednesday that Colorado will be an outlier among all states if its wage regulations require companies to include incentive pay for time worked on holidays when calculating employees’ overtime compensation.

At the same time, the justices repeatedly returned to the text of the disputed regulation, which provides that the overtime calculation “includes all compensation paid to an employee.”

“Your argument has essentially been, ‘What part of all compensation for worked hours are you struggling with?'” observed Justice William W. Hood III.

“That’s essentially it,” responded attorney Victoria E. Guzman, who is representing Amazon employee Dan Hamilton in his class action lawsuit for millions of dollars allegedly owed to those who worked on company holidays.

Colorado programs for older residents face major funding shortfalls

Funding for community-based programs to help Colorado’s older residents receive daily necessities, such as meals and transportation services, is dwindling, and the future looks bleak, advocates said.

The Colorado Association of Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) provides services to more than 56,000 seniors over 60 annually. The federal Older Americans Act and the Colorado Department of Human Services State Unit on Aging support the program.

Statewide, there is a growing waiting list of older residents in need of services with AAA, which estimated it needs an annual budget of about $29.5 million just to maintain current levels.

Federal judge open to financial penalties after Gunnison landlords continue defying orders

A federal judge on Wednesday appeared to accept that despite going out of his way to accommodate their participation, a trio of Gunnison landlords will continue to disobey his orders and ignore the housing non-discrimination agreement they voluntarily entered into with the government four years ago.

At the same time, U.S. District Court Judge Gordon P. Gallagher ruled out, for now, the possibility of jailing David Welch, John Welch and Ruth Welch for contempt.

“I don’t know what else we can do at this point,” Gallagher admitted at a hearing in his Denver courtroom. “We were hoping to get some cooperation. But, unfortunately, we did not.”

Aurora's request for proposals to determine cost of contracting public defenders comes up empty

A request for proposals (RFP) sent out by the city of Aurora in January to determine the potential costs of contracting out for indigent defense attorneys came back empty last week after months of tense discussion about the future of the city’s public defender’s office.

The Council originally voted to send out the RFP — which was intended to figure out if court-appointed defense counsel using private attorneys on contract would be more cost effective than maintaining the city’s public defenders office — in October.

Since then, public defense officials, community members and other members of the public have attended City Council meetings to oppose the RFP and the potential of privatization.

At a meeting early in the RFP’s process, Aurora’s Chief Deputy Public Defender Elizabeth Cadiz, two Aurora councilmembers and other officials identified numerous issues with the plan, saying it did not fully encompass the public defender’s role or the extra costs that come with privatization of the office.

Proponents of the RFP in its current form pushed for it to go forward so the council could get an analysis of the costs of privatization to decide whether or not they would move forward.