Can you believe January is winding down so quickly?
Congratulations – you have thrived for the very first month of 2023! CHOW is here to support you in your journey with wellness, mental health and recovery for this month, and beyond.
Let’s keep up the wellness vibes and invest in ourselves in February as well – this community is evergreen and it’s excited to have you.
Join a CHOW Meeting in 2023
As always, we would love to encourage you to come to a CHOW meeting!
Our meetings have a topic or theme to consider and discuss. They begin with an ice breaker question, so we can get to know each other better, and move into a conversation about shared experiences. We have an “EXPO” (who is a person who has walked the path of recovery from mental illness/substance use disorder and is trained to assist others in their recovery) in each meeting who can guide the conversation.
Sharing is VOLUNTARY and sobriety is NOT required.
Reimagining Restaurants: Hospitality Health and Hope
To kick off Reimagine’s food series, a stellar group of chefs, nutritionists, dietitians, and physicians share their expertise in culinary medicine, the art and science of helping people to access and eat delicious and nutritious meals that prevent and treat disease, restore well-being, and ultimately feed the soul.
Wednesday, February 22
10am PT/1pm ET
Join leaders from the food, beverage and hospitality space as they discuss initiatives and opportunities for growth and transformation, particularly how the industry is reimagining safer and braver workplaces. Topics will include how restaurants are addressing mental health, suicide, bereavement support, sexual harrassment, and poverty among staff. These initiatives not only impact workers, but also all of us who eat out and order in. Speakers include noted chefs and restaurateurs Erin Boyle, Jen Hidinger-Kendrick, and Bobbin Mulvaney. Author, food writer, and dining critic Kate Washington moderates. Register here.
Women in the Industry Event
Industry Days | Recovery Lounge & Spa
Colorado Update
CHOW is a Denver based nonprofit, and we love to share current events that touch our food/beverage/hospitality community with you! Here is what is influencing our community lately:
House Bill 23-1118
This bill would put the following requirements on the Colorado restaurant and retail industries, impacting any business with two or more locations and 250 or more employees:
- Note: Employees include full-time, part-time, temporary, and all workers who are on your payroll – even if they are not actively getting paid. It also includes those on unpaid leave (whether sick, disciplinary, medical, or leave of absence).
- The bill requires employers to develop an “Anticipated Work Plan” for every hourly employee every 90 days, outlining specific expectations for the shifts, days, number of hours, and locations where an employee can be expected to work.
- If an employee’s work schedule differs by more than 15% of the hours in the Anticipated Work Plan — for 20 hours/week, that means any change totaling three (3) hours — the employer would have to provide the employee with a new “Anticipated Work Plan.” This will mean thousands of documents to manage and retain.
- Work schedules would have to be posted at least 14 days in advance. If work schedules change within that 14-day period, employers would have to pay employees “predictability pay” in the amounts of:
- One (1) hour of predictability pay at the employee’s regular rate of pay when the covered employer adds time to a shift or changes the location.
- Two (2) hours of predictability pay when the employer subtracts time from a shift or changes the date or time of the shift.
- Employees have the right to refuse to work a shift or hours that are scheduled less than 12 hours after the end of the previous shift, to reduce the frequency of clopenings.
- If an employee consents to work a shift within 12 hours of the end of the previous shift, the employee shall be paid 1.5 times their regular rate of pay.
- Before an employer can hire a new part-time employee, they must offer the available work hours to an existing employee, allowing the existing employee to increase their work hours up to 40 hours a week.
- If the employer doesn’t do that, the employer shall provide the existing employee “retention pay” for a six-month period beginning on the new employee’s date of hire.
- Employers are required to keep all records necessary to provide evidence of compliance — including all Anticipated Work Plans, payroll records, written communications with employees about schedule-change consent, and more — for three (3) years or for the duration of a claim, civil action, or investigation pending pursuant to this legislation.