employment colorado
Can someone be fired for working less than 42.5 hours
<p>In Colorado is it legal to fire an employee only on the basis that they have put in fewer than 42.5 hours weekly?</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>In Colorado is it legal to fire an employee only on the basis that
  they have put in fewer than 42.5 hours weekly?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Yes, it seems lawful.</p>

<p>One plausible exception would be that the employee proves that the requirement to work 42.5 hours per week constitutes an "<em>excessive demand on an employee</em>", <a href="https://www.leagle.com/decision/200330197p3d2041290" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Campbell v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office of State</em>, 97 P.3d 204, 212 (2003)</a>. That is because the doctrine of <em>at-will</em> employment cannot supersede public policy or contract law. However, given that 40 hours per week is pretty much the standard for a full-time job, a full-time employee is (generally speaking) unlikely to prevail solely on an excess of 2.5 hours over that standard.</p>

<p>In <em>Campbell</em>, the claimant prevailed on the heightened grounds that</p>

<ol>
<li><p>the increase of work hours (to around sixty hours per week) was unilateral and not something of which
he was "fully aware" at the time of accepting employment;</p></li>
<li><p>during the last two years with that extended schedule, he
"<em>repeatedly requested help from employer</em>" but to no avail; and</p></li>
<li><p>"<em>claimant presented evidence that the excessive hours affected
him</em>", <em>Id</em> at 211.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>To be clear, <em>Campbell</em> is about termination, but about an award of benefits in a matter of <em>constructive termination</em> (that is, one where the employee resigned due to unsustainable conditions). Moreover, it is unclear to me whether the relevant portion(s) of Colorado statute <a href="https://advance.lexis.com/documentpage/?pdmfid=1000516&amp;crid=6d932798-9282-4b8b-a3fc-60c13044847f&amp;nodeid=AAIAADAAEAAK&amp;nodepath=%2FROOT%2FAAI%2FAAIAAD%2FAAIAADAAE%2FAAIAADAAEAAK&amp;level=4&amp;haschildren=&amp;populated=false&amp;title=8-73-108.%20Benefit%20awards%20-%20repeal&amp;config=014FJAAyNGJkY2Y4Zi1mNjgyLTRkN2YtYmE4OS03NTYzNzYzOTg0OGEKAFBvZENhdGFsb2d592qv2Kywlf8caKqYROP5&amp;pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fstatutes-legislation%2Furn%3AcontentItem%3A5T3S-CJK0-004D-10BK-00008-00&amp;ecomp=-_579kk&amp;prid=bfd3f8d5-da79-4196-a4c4-c8a1b21f979b" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§ 8-73-108</a> has been repealed. But regardless of the current validity of that statute, a Colorado court might assess an employee's claim on the basis of <em>Campbell</em>.</p>
