(1) The division shall recognize as valid the certified status of the employee organization previously certified pursuant to executive order D 028 07 and shall consider such organization the certified employee organization for all purposes under this part 11 unless decertified.
(2) (a) In the event there is no certified employee organization, any employee organization may file a petition with the division requesting that it hold a representation election to allow covered employees in an unrepresented partnership unit to elect an employee organization to serve as the certified employee organization. An employee organization requesting that the division hold an election shall submit a petition to the division, signed by at least thirty percent of the covered employees in a partnership unit.
(b) The division shall certify as the certified employee organization the employee organization that receives the majority of votes cast by the covered employees.
(c) The division shall not hold a representation election:
(I) Within the twenty-four-month period immediately following June 16, 2020; or
(II) If an election or runoff election has been conducted within the twelve-month period immediately preceding the proposed election.
(3) (a) A covered employee or an employee organization may initiate a decertification election of a certified employee organization by submitting a petition signed by at least thirty percent of the covered employees requesting a decertification election.
(b) When there is a partnership agreement in effect, a covered employee or employee organization must submit a request for a decertification election to the division no earlier than one hundred twenty calendar days and no later than ninety calendar days before the expiration of the partnership agreement, or after the expiration of the fourth year of a partnership agreement with a term of more than four years. If one year after expiration of a partnership agreement, a new partnership agreement is not ratified, then a new decertification election window opens but then closes at ratification.
(c) When an employee organization has been certified but no partnership agreement is in effect, the division shall not accept a request for a decertification election earlier than two years from the date of the certification or June 16, 2020, whichever is later.
(4) A certified employee organization or the state may file a petition with the director to resolve disputes about whether certain employees are appropriately classified as covered employees. Appeals of the director's decision shall be brought to the division for adjudication. Any challenges to the exemption of an employee from the state personnel system under article XII, section 13 of the state constitution may be filed only with the state personnel board.
Source: L. 2020: Entire part added, (HB 20-1153), ch. 109, p. 429, § 2, effective June 16.
ANNOTATION
The State Administrative Procedure Act (APA) does not conflict with, but rather supplements, the appeal procedures set forth in this act. The APA fills the procedural gap left by the act when the division assigns a hearing officer to decide an appeal of the state personnel director's coverage decision under subsection (4) of this section and § 24-50-1115 (1). Colo. Workers for Innovative v. Gherardini, 2023 COA 80, 540 P.3d 950.
Nothing in this act or the division's organic statute authorizes the division to promulgate a rule that deprives a party of its right to appeal a hearing officer's decision via the exceptions procedure provided in § 24-4-105 (14)(a)(II). Colo. Workers for Innovative v. Gherardini, 2023 COA 80, 540 P.3d 950.