Opinion ID: 2630552
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ill Comp. Stat. Sec. 300.620 (2002) (emphasis added).

Text: The Kansas statute provides: In case of violation of K.S.A. 44-314, and amendments thereto or 44-315, and amendments thereto, by a corporate employer, either the corporation or any officer thereof or any agent having the management of the corporation who knowingly permits the corporation to engage in such violation shall be deemed the employer for purposes of this act. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 44.323(b)(2002) (emphasis added); see also N.J. Stat. Ann. § 34:11-4.1(a) (2002) (For the purposes of this act the officers of a corporation and any agents having the management of such corporation shall be deemed to be the employers of the employees of the corporation); Mulford v. Computer Leasing, Inc., 334 N.J.Super. 385, 759 A.2d 887, 892, 894 (1999) (interpreting section 34:11-4.1(a) and holding that principal officers having management authority of the corporation may be liable for wages the corporation fails to pay, but their liability is secondary to that of the corporation). Three features of the Illinois and Kansas statutes are particularly enlightening on the question of plain language statutory construction. These statutes directly address: (1) the issue of officer and agent personal liability, for (2) wages and compensation due and payable under the employment contract between the corporation and the employee, when (3) the corporate officer or agent has substantial authority for wage payment and/or knowingly permits the corporation to violate its duty of payment to the employee. These acts demonstrate how a legislature may choose to pierce the corporate veil and make some officers and agents personally liable in particular circumstances for payment of unpaid wages. But, Colorado's Wage Claim Act does not contain language directly addressing the issue of corporate officer and agent personal liability for paying earned but unpaid wages. Leonard would have us read such words into our statute. These are highly consequential words that would alter the normal rules of corporate law. We should not attribute such intent to the General Assembly in the absence of plain or necessarily implied intent to change the pre-existing law through this definition. General principles of corporate law provide that officers and agents acting in their representative capacity for a corporation are not personally liable for those acts. We reject Leonard's plain language assertion. We find that the General Assembly's choice to include any agent or officer thereof in the employer definition prompts potential alternative constructions of legislative intent: first, that the General Assembly intended to hold corporations responsible for the acts of their officers and agents; or, second, that it intended officers and agents to have joint and several liability for the payment of earned but unpaid wages. Because the Colorado definition does not contain a plain statement of the General Assembly's intent, we find the language ambiguous and turn to the rules of statutory construction. We therefore look to the language, design, meaning, purpose, and construct of Colorado's Wage Claim Act to ascertain the General Assembly's intent on the question of joint and several officer and agent liability. Undertaking this examination, we conclude that the legislature did not intend to impose personal liability on officers and agents that is equal to the corporation's liability. In reviewing this question, we are aided by (1) the language the General Assembly actually utilizes in the Wage Claim Act and (2) longstanding Colorado corporate law, which we find our legislature did not intend to supersede.