House Bill 25-1031 Introduced

A Bill for an Act

• Page 1, Line 101Concerning a prohibition on whistleblower retaliation in

• Page 1, Line 102law enforcement.

Bill Summary

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill passes third reading in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the reengrossed version of this bill will be available at http://leg.colorado.gov.)

The bill creates a civil cause of action for a peace officer if the peace officer reports or discloses conduct that is in violation of, or the peace officer reasonably believes is in violation of, any law or policy and the report or disclosure is a contributing factor in the employer of the peace officer's decision to take adverse employment action against the peace officer. A peace officer may seek the following damages:

• Reinstatement, with or without back pay;
• Any other equitable relief the court deems appropriate;
• Compensatory damages for other pecuniary losses, emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and other nonpecuniary losses; and
• Reasonable attorney fees and costs.

If the court finds that an action or defense brought was frivolous, groundless, or vexatious, the court may award costs and attorney fees to the defendant or peace officer, respectively.

The bill creates an affirmative defense to the action if the peace officer's employer would have taken the action that forms the basis of the suit against the peace officer, based on a legitimate nonretaliatory basis. The action is not subject to the "Colorado Governmental Immunity Act". The statute of limitations to bring the action is 2 years.

• Page 2, Line 1Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:

• Page 2, Line 2SECTION 1.  In Colorado Revised Statutes, 24-31-906, amend

• Page 2, Line 3(1) and (3); and add (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), and (11) as follows:

• Page 2, Line 424-31-906.  Retaliation against whistleblower officers

• Page 2, Line 5prohibited - private right of action - exemptions - procedures -

• Page 2, Line 6definitions. (1) (a)  Due to the strong public policy interests

• Page 2, Line 7protected by prohibiting unlawful retaliation against

• Page 2, Line 8whistleblowers, a peace officer's employer or the employer's agent

• Page 2, Line 9shall not discharge, discipline, demote, deny a promotion to, transfer or

• Page 2, Line 10reassign, discriminate against, harass, suspend, create a hostile work

• Page 2, Line 11environment for, subject to corrective action or reprimand,

• Page 2, Line 12issue an employment rating that results in the loss of pay or

• Page 2, Line 13adversely affects eligibility for promotion or for an assignment

• Page 2, Line 14for, lay off, reduce work hours for, knowingly provide false

• Page 2, Line 15information or information regarding whistleblower activity

• Page 2, Line 16for the purpose of negatively affecting future employment

• Page 2, Line 17opportunities for, or threaten a peace officer's employment any such

• Page 3, Line 1actions against a peace officer, or otherwise discriminate

• Page 3, Line 2against a peace officer in terms, conditions, or privileges of

• Page 3, Line 3employment, because the peace officer disclosed in good faith

• Page 3, Line 4information to the proper supervising authority that the peace

• Page 3, Line 5officer reasonably believes shows:

• Page 3, Line 6(a)  (I)  A danger to public health or safety; or

• Page 3, Line 7(b)  (II)  A An alleged violation of law or policy committed by

• Page 3, Line 8another peace officer.

• Page 3, Line 9(b)  Departmental administrative procedures, such as

• Page 3, Line 10suspension during an investigation, or departmental objective

• Page 3, Line 11procedures used to distribute assignments or duties do not

• Page 3, Line 12violate subsection (1)(a) of this section.

• Page 3, Line 13(c)  A peace officer who discloses information pursuant to

• Page 3, Line 14subsection (1)(a) of this section in good faith is engaging in a

• Page 3, Line 15protected activity.

• Page 3, Line 16(d)  This subsection (1) does not prevent an employer from

• Page 3, Line 17complying with any disclosure requirements required by law or

• Page 3, Line 18court rule or procedure.

• Page 3, Line 19(3)  An employee or agent of a law enforcement agency that

• Page 3, Line 20knowingly or intentionally violates subsection (1) of this section shall be

• Page 3, Line 21disciplined appropriately by the law enforcement agency. An employee

• Page 3, Line 22aggrieved by a violation of subsection (1) of this section that is

• Page 3, Line 23a protected activity pursuant to subsection (1)(c) of this section

• Page 3, Line 24and was a contributing factor in the basis for the violation of

• Page 3, Line 25subsection (1) of this section, and for which the employee made

• Page 3, Line 26a report or disclosure, has a private right of action against the

• Page 3, Line 27employer that violated subsection (1) of this section after the

• Page 4, Line 1employee exhausts the internal administrative procedures

• Page 4, Line 2pursuant to subsection (9) of this section. An employee may seek

• Page 4, Line 3the following damages:

• Page 4, Line 4(a) (I)  Reinstatement, with or without back pay; and

• Page 4, Line 5(II)  If the court orders back pay, the liability for back pay

• Page 4, Line 6accrues from a date no more than two years prior to the filing

• Page 4, Line 7of the case. The court shall reduce an award of back pay by the

• Page 4, Line 8amount of actual earnings of, or the amount that could have

• Page 4, Line 9been earned with reasonable diligence by, the employee.

• Page 4, Line 10(b)  Any other equitable relief the court deems

• Page 4, Line 11appropriate;

• Page 4, Line 12(c)  Compensatory damages for other pecuniary losses,

• Page 4, Line 13emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish,

• Page 4, Line 14loss of enjoyment of life, and other nonpecuniary losses; and

• Page 4, Line 15(d)  Reasonable attorney fees and costs.

• Page 4, Line 16(4)  If the court finds that an action or defense brought

• Page 4, Line 17pursuant to this part 9 was frivolous, groundless, or vexatious

• Page 4, Line 18as provided in article 17 of title 13, the court may award costs

• Page 4, Line 19and attorney fees to the defendant in the action.

• Page 4, Line 20(5)  It is an affirmative defense to an action brought

• Page 4, Line 21pursuant to this section if the employer shows by a

• Page 4, Line 22preponderance of the evidence that the employer would have

• Page 4, Line 23taken the action that forms the basis of the suit against the

• Page 4, Line 24employee based on a legitimate nonretaliatory basis.

• Page 4, Line 25(6)  An action brought pursuant to this section is not

• Page 4, Line 26subject to the "Colorado Governmental Immunity Act", article

• Page 4, Line 2710 of this title 24.

• Page 5, Line 1(7)  An action brought pursuant to this section must be

• Page 5, Line 2brought within two years after the date of the most recent

• Page 5, Line 3adverse employment action described in subsection (1) of this

• Page 5, Line 4section.

• Page 5, Line 5(8) (a)  This section does not apply to an employee who

• Page 5, Line 6discloses information that the employee knows to be false, who

• Page 5, Line 7discloses information with disregard for the truth, or who

• Page 5, Line 8discloses information without fully complying with subsection

• Page 5, Line 9(9) of this section.

• Page 5, Line 10(b)  An employee's disclosure of the employee's own act of

• Page 5, Line 11negligence, unprofessional conduct, breach of a P.O.S.T.

• Page 5, Line 12certification requirement, or violation of any state or federal

• Page 5, Line 13law is not a protected activity pursuant to this section and does

• Page 5, Line 14not provide the employee with immunity related to the activity

• Page 5, Line 15subject to the disclosure.

• Page 5, Line 16(c)  This section does not prevent an employer from taking

• Page 5, Line 17disciplinary action against an employee for reasons other than

• Page 5, Line 18those specified in subsection (1) of this section.

• Page 5, Line 19(9) (a)  When making a good faith report or disclosure

• Page 5, Line 20protected by this section, an employee shall follow the internal

• Page 5, Line 21reporting and internal administrative procedures of the

• Page 5, Line 22employee's employer, to the extent the procedures exist and are

• Page 5, Line 23provided to the employee in writing, and shall exhaust the

• Page 5, Line 24procedures prior to initiating a private right of action pursuant

• Page 5, Line 25to subsection (3) of this section. The limitations period in

• Page 5, Line 26subsection (7) of this section is tolled until the internal

• Page 5, Line 27administrative process is complete.

• Page 6, Line 1(b) (I)  A law enforcement agency shall complete the

• Page 6, Line 2internal administrative procedure within one hundred eighty

• Page 6, Line 3days after a report or disclosure except in the case of a

• Page 6, Line 4reasonable delay or in the case of a mutually agreed upon

• Page 6, Line 5delay.

• Page 6, Line 6(II)  If a law enforcement agency does not adopt an

• Page 6, Line 7internal administrative procedure or does not complete the

• Page 6, Line 8internal administrative procedure within one hundred eighty

• Page 6, Line 9days after starting the process, except in the case of a

• Page 6, Line 10reasonable delay or in the case of a mutually agreed upon

• Page 6, Line 11delay, this subsection (9) is deemed complied with and the court

• Page 6, Line 12may award additional damages to the peace officer in a private

• Page 6, Line 13right of action filed pursuant to subsection (3) of this section.

• Page 6, Line 14(10)  No later than January 1, 2026, all law enforcement

• Page 6, Line 15agencies that employ P.O.S.T.-certified peace officers shall

• Page 6, Line 16provide a training to employees or a workplace posting, or both,

• Page 6, Line 17regarding the requirements of this section. If the law

• Page 6, Line 18enforcement agency provides a workplace posting, the law

• Page 6, Line 19enforcement agency shall place the posting in an area that is

• Page 6, Line 20readily accessible to all employees and print the posting in a

• Page 6, Line 21readable format. If the agency provides a training for new

• Page 6, Line 22employees hired after the date of the training for existing

• Page 6, Line 23employees, the law enforcement agency shall provide the

• Page 6, Line 24training during the employee's orientation.

• Page 6, Line 25(11)  As used in the section, unless the context otherwise

• Page 6, Line 26requires:

• Page 6, Line 27(a)  "Employee" means a peace officer as described in

• Page 7, Line 1section 16-2.5-101 who is employed by an employer and who has

• Page 7, Line 2engaged in protected activity.

• Page 7, Line 3(b)  "Employer" means the instrumentalities of the state of

• Page 7, Line 4Colorado or any political subdivisions of the state, including,

• Page 7, Line 5but not limited to, a county, city and county, municipality,

• Page 7, Line 6public school district, or special-purpose district or authority;

• Page 7, Line 7and its agents, employees, or assigns.

• Page 7, Line 8SECTION 2.  Safety clause. The general assembly finds,

• Page 7, Line 9determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate

• Page 7, Line 10preservation of the public peace, health, or safety or for appropriations for

• Page 7, Line 11the support and maintenance of the departments of the state and state

• Page 7, Line 12institutions.