Effective January 1, 2023, the process for attempting to recoup unreturned company property from Colorado employees will become more laborious. It has been necessary to obtain a “receipt of company property” form in order to attempt a deduction in the past, and still will be, but we will now need to take a couple of more steps in order to ensure we are on the right side of the CDLE. Whenever any company property is issued to an employee, ensure that you are including the date it is received, description of item, cost of the item, and the appropriate language on the form to ensure a proper deduction can be made (please use the InTANDEM HR form or something that contains the same approved language). Going forward, in addition, if the property is not returned, in order to deduct the fair market value from final pay, an employer must provide notice to the employee within 10 days of separation containing 1). a written accounting specifying the amount of money or the specific property the employee failed to return (so this includes unpaid loans) 2). the replacement value of the property (fair market value) 3). date the property/money was given to the employee 4) when the employee should have paid the money or returned the goods.
Then, if they do pay the money or give the property back within 14 days of the notice, the employer must pay back the employee the amount of the deduction within 14 days of getting the money/property back.
I cannot express how frequently I get questions about unreturned company property. It is a thing. Now is the time to shore up your process – get those forms signed, make sure employees understand the expectation of returning everything, and let’s get used to the new process now.