Roger Hays is President and CEO of PassioHR, a professional employer organization serving small and mid-sized businesses. A former lobbyist, he is an expert on employment regulations and small business policy.
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Roger Hays is the President and Chief Executive Officer of PassioHR, Inc., a regional leader in the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) industry. Founded in 2008 as Premier Employer Services and rebranded to PassioHR in January 2022, the company provides comprehensive HR administrative services including payroll processing, benefits administration, workers' compensation, HR compliance, and employee engagement strategies for small and medium-sized businesses operating across 35 states.
With over twenty years of experience in the PEO industry, Hays brings deep expertise in employment law, HR compliance, and the regulatory landscape facing employers. Before founding his company, he spent nearly a decade working as a professional lobbyist in the 1990s, giving him an intimate understanding of the legislative process and how policy decisions impact the business community.
Hays is an active member of the National Federation of Independent Business and a passionate advocate for small business interests. He is known for his expertise on topics including the Affordable Care Act, Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program, unemployment insurance policy, and the cumulative regulatory burden on employers.
A regular contributor on The Kim Monson Show since 2020, Hays has appeared 17 times providing in-depth analysis of Colorado legislative sessions and their impact on the business climate, consistently warning about the compounding effects of anti-business regulation on small and mid-sized employers.
Susan Kochevar on hollywood culture shift, Roger Hays on colorado business regulations. July 25, 2023.
“This legislature goes by emotion. It doesn't really go by common sense. It doesn't go by law sometimes. It's just they pass things on emotion, stuff that makes them feel good. And they don't take into account the unintended consequences, which the law of unintended consequences always happens when you pass something.”
Trent Loos on captures loos' critique of gov, Roger Hays on captures hays' core argument a. May 3, 2023.
“They keep adding more and more legislation multiple times a year, but they don't ever get rid of anything. So it just keeps building upon what they've done the year before, and it builds upon what the federal government does.”
Kurt Gerwitz, Paige Agostin, Roger Hays, Steve Cruz. February 3, 2023.
“Nobody starts their business to sit in the back and fill out government paperwork, to manage all that Affordable Care Act stuff that they have to do. We come in and take care of that for them. We do it at a much better rate than they could get if they had to hire a payroll person or an HR manager.”
Federal budget, gun rights, and family leave mandates explored with Paige Agostin, Karl Honegger, and Roger Hays on December 12, 2022.
“And let's be honest, if you have 11 of them, why wouldn't you get rid of one of them so you drop down to 10? A lot of smaller companies are going to do, they're going to look at that.”
Brad Beck on humor, Ron Hanks on the Colorado primary recount, Matt Dark on vaccines, and Roger Hays on regulations. July 25, 2022.
“Most people don't start a business to get into the compliance industry. But the minute you open your doors and hire an employee, that's exactly what you're doing. I mean, you spend a good 80% of your life as a business owner trying to stay in compliance.”
Colorado primaries, legislative attacks on small business, COVID treatment, and election integrity. May 17, 2022.
“They are convinced that small to mid-sized businesses in Colorado have an unending supply of money, and they're very happy to do the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association's bidding, and they keep adding legislation upon legislation to make it a lot easier for the trial lawyers, the plaintiff's lawyers, to file lawsuits against employers on any kind of goofy, frivolous type of a thing.”
“The only good thing about the legislature being gone is they're not coming up with new ways to do this stuff.”
Energy policy, medical freedom, and legislative threats to small business with Bob Boswell, Matt Dark, and Roger Hays on April 26, 2022.
“They are convinced that employers are evil, rotten overlords and that we're really just trying to abuse our employees and create the old journeyman feudal system where you're trapped.”
Roger Hays on Colorado's bankrupt unemployment fund and FAMLI Act. Karen Levine on Wall Street investors. February 10, 2022.
“Colorado borrowed a lot of money from the federal government to keep their unemployment insurance money flowing. And that's part of what this bill does is, rather than have the businesses pay that back with higher rates, because it wasn't their fault, they didn't make that decision, let's just have the state fund that money in full so it doesn't impact the businesses.”
“In the other states that they've been in, it was always vastly underfunded to start with. And surprise, down the road, the legislature comes back, the state comes back and starts raising the rate very quickly. And they almost always put it on the business.”
HR 550's immunization surveillance, Medicare premium hikes, and Colorado's regulatory assault on small business. Kim Monson, December 13, 2021.
“Nobody really starts a business to be an employer. You start a business to do what you said, sell something better than someone else or provide a service that you think is better than what's already on the market. But the minute you hire your first employee, you get mired in paperwork and all these rules and regulations.”
Dr. Jill Vecchio analyzes COVID vaccine policy. Roger Hays details how Colorado's employment laws are driving businesses away. August 5, 2021.
“The two biggest things right now that Colorado employers are looking at is this new family thing. That's coming up. And then as of January 1st of this year, we've talked about this one before, but the equal pay program that is kicked in. And those are two big, huge ticket items for employers, and they create an enormous amount of regulation and compliance issues.”
“Johnson & Johnson had an ad out not too long ago that I think you're referring to, that they posted an ad for remote workers. You can work anywhere from home in the country except for Colorado. We won't hire anyone in Colorado. So if you're a person looking for a job in Colorado and you have all the qualifications that Johnson & Johnson was looking for, Well, too bad for you because you happen to live in a state that just cost you that job.”
“Employment law is the same way. Once you agree to comply with the Colorado statute, then they start to try to get you to comply with it everywhere. And it's what our Colorado legislature, and it's mostly the folks that are in charge now, just never learn. And it's that law of unintended consequences.”
Roger Hays warns about HB 1232, SB 176, SB 197 threatening Colorado small business. The Kim Monson Show, May 11, 2021.
“The philosophy of a lot of the folks up at the Capitol is you and I are just too darn stupid to know what's good for us and they're going to help us.”
“Legislation like this that raises the costs and the risks for employers, you're going to really hesitate to hire and offer those people jobs because you're like, look, I just can't take that risk.”
Roger Hays warns of anti-business bills at the Statehouse while Daniel Turner opposes Deb Haaland's confirmation. February 23, 2021.
“If you want to know what it's going to look like, just look at California. Because we have a pretty good-sized contingent of legislators that use California as a model for pretty much everything they do.”
Kim Monson examines VF Corp's hypocrisy, restaurant industry devastation, and growing employment regulations with Patti Kurgan, Sonia Riggs, and Roger Hays on December 18, 2020.
“And it just becomes this vicious cycle where we just can't ever get ahead of it anymore.”
Lauren Boebert, George Teal, and Roger Hays discuss radical left tactics, Prop 118 threats, and the American dream. October 15, 2020.
“I've had a number of legislators over the years tell me right to my face that all business owners, I don't care how big or small you are, you're rich.”
Rose Pugliese, Jill Vecchio, and Roger Hays discuss CARES Act funding for local governments, COVID-19 vaccine concerns, and small business relief on April 23, 2020.
“It's really infuriating when you're trying to run a small business and you're just trying to stay afloat and keep your employees paid so that they can pay their bills and send their kids to school. And you hear about these really large national corporations that are pulling millions and millions of dollars out of a program that was supposed to help Main Street America.”
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