2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 8 - LABOR AND INDUSTRY (§§ 8-1-101 — 8-88-207) › LABOR I - DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT (§§ 8-1-101 — 8-20.5-401) › LABOR RELATIONS (§§ 8-2-101 — 8-3.8-101) › Article 3.3 - COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BY COUNTY EMPLOYEES (§§ 8-3.3-101 — 8-3.3-116) › Section 8-3.3-113 - Collective bargaining agreement - arbitration

(1)
An agreement negotiated between an exclusive representative and a county, with the approval of the board of county commissioners of the county, constitutes the collective bargaining agreement between the parties.
(2)
A collective bargaining agreement entered into under this article 3.3 must be for a term of at least twelve months and not more than sixty months. A collective bargaining agreement remains in effect until replaced by a subsequent collective bargaining agreement.
(3)
If there is an existing law, policy, ordinance, or charter provision that applies to a county that provides procedures for the appeal of county employee discipline, including terminations, a county employee may elect to appeal a disciplinary action either under the applicable appeals procedure established by that law, policy, ordinance, or charter provision or under a grievance procedure established in a collective bargaining agreement applicable to the county, but not both. A county employee's election of a remedy is irrevocable and is made at the time the county employee timely files a written disciplinary appeal under the negotiated grievance procedure or the procedure established by law, policy, ordinance, or charter provision, whichever occurs first.
(4)
(a)
A collective bargaining agreement shall provide for a grievance procedure culminating in final and binding arbitration, subject to judicial review in accordance with this article 3.3, to resolve disputes over the interpretation, application, and enforcement of any provision of the collective bargaining agreement.
(b)
An exclusive representative or the county may seek judicial review or confirmation of an arbitrator's decision as the final step in a collective bargaining agreement grievance procedure in a court of competent jurisdiction. The decision of an arbitrator must be enforced, and the parties shall comply with the decision and award, unless a court concludes that:
(I)
The decision and award was procured by corruption, fraud, or other undue means;
(II)
The arbitrator exceeded the arbitrator's authority;
(III)
The arbitrator's decision and award violated public policy;
(IV)
The arbitrator engaged in manifest disregard of the law; or
(V)
The arbitrator denied the parties a fundamentally fair hearing.
(5)
A collective bargaining agreement shall not:
(a)
Delay the prompt interviewing of county employees under investigation; except that a county employee must be given sufficient time to have the county employee's exclusive representative present at any examination in connection with an investigation in accordance with section
8-3.3-103 (3)
;
(b)
Permit a county employee to use paid time for any or all of a suspension when the suspension was properly imposed, in accordance with applicable standards or procedures, or where a supervisor, employer, administrative law judge, hearing officer, or a court has found a deprivation of rights under the state or federal constitution;
(c)
Permit the expungement of disciplinary records from a county employee's personnel file for substantiated infractions of a county's policies regarding:
(I)
Physical use of force;
(II)
Deadly physical force;
(III)
Actions resulting in death or serious bodily injury; and
(IV)
Actions resulting in a deprivation of rights under the state or federal constitution;
(d)
Impose limits on the period of time during which a county employee may be disciplined or an investigation may occur for incidents involving physical force, incidents of deadly physical force, incidents that resulted in death or serious bodily injury, or incidents alleging a deprivation of an individual's rights under the state or federal constitution;
(e)
Place limitations on the substance, method for filing, or source of complaints that may prompt an investigation into employee misconduct.
(6)
A collective bargaining agreement must be consistent with applicable state and federal laws, including state and federal laws governing the county officials' and county employees' retirement plan or the Colorado employee retirement system described in article
51
of title
24
, whichever is applicable. If any clause in a collective bargaining agreement is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, the unenforceability or invalidity of such clause does not affect the enforceability or validity of any other clause of the collective bargaining agreement.
(7)
Any term of a collective bargaining agreement requiring the appropriation of funds must be submitted to the board of county commissioners of the county at the meeting following notification by the exclusive representative to the county that the bargaining unit has approved the agreement in accordance with the internal procedures of the exclusive representative.
Added by 2022 Ch. 260, § 2, eff. 7/1/2023.