8 Colo. Code Regs. § 1402-1-2.115
Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 11, June 10, 2024
Section 8 CCR 1402-1-2.115 - HARDSHIP WAIVERSA. Any applicant or licensee who has applied for or been issued a license to operate a child care facility has a right to appeal, pursuant to section 26.5-5-314(5), C.R.S., any rule or standard which, in their opinion, poses an undue hardship on the person, facility, or community. 1. Undue hardship is a situation where compliance with the rule creates a substantial, unnecessary burden on the applicant or licensee's business operation or the families or community it serves, which reasonable means cannot remedy. An undue hardship does not include the normal cost of operating the business.2. Emergency hardship appeals are requests by applicants or licensees to excuse noncompliance with a specific child care licensing rule due to urgent, significant, and unexpected situations outside the applicant's or licensee's control. Specific situations that may be considered "emergencies" under this paragraph include, but are not limited to: b) Infectious disease outbreaks;d) Acts of nature or an accident resulting in structural damage to the child care facility.B. Such appeal must be submitted to the Department in writing within sixty (60) calendar days from the date on which the rule, standard, or emergency situation allegedly created the hardship. The applicant or licensee or their designated representative must send an appeal on the state-prescribed form to the appropriate division. Each rule appealed requires an individual appeal and applicable fee. If the appeal is an emergency hardship appeal, the applicant or licensee must mark it as such on the state-prescribed form.C. When submitting an appeal, the applicant or licensee must consider the impact on the health, safety, and wellbeing of any children in care and include a proposed alternate compliance plan.D. The Department must consider the impact of an appeal on the health, safety, and wellbeing of the children in care, which must take priority over any undue hardship alleged, when determining whether an appeal should be granted.E. If the Department grants an appeal for undue hardship, it will issue the applicant or licensee an official decision notification letter temporarily excusing the applicant or licensee from compliance with the appealed rule or standard and accepting the alternate compliance plan.46 CR 22, November 25, 2023, effective 12/15/2023