Mary Watterson, the Founder of Poochy Doos, LLC, a small pet sitting company in Fort Collins, CO has just won a major victory against the Colorado Department of Labor — but at a staggering cost. Poochy Doos, LLC is a pet advocacy company that provides pet sitting, dog walking and dog hiking to animal lovers in Fort Collins. Having barely survived the catastrophic business hardships resulting from Covid, Mary thought she was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel — when 2021 brought an even bigger challenge.
In December 2021, the Colorado Department of Labor audited her pet care company for tax year 2020 — a year in which the company had lost nearly 95% of its client base, virtually overnight, due to Covid. The investigator leveled 36 spurious “findings” against the company, and claimed Poochy had violated labor laws. Mary and her team provided over 400 documents that clearly demonstrated that each of these “findings” were false. Mary and her lawyer were both surprised when, even after receiving evidence to the contrary, the investigator proceeded with their original claims. After many months of stress and legal back-and-forth, each of the investigator’s “evidentiary findings” were completely overturned at a Department of Labor hearing. Incredibly, the investigator admitted under cross examination that none of her "findings" were actually “based in evidence,” instead citing her “personal feelings.” Yes, you heard that right. She "selected from a Dept. of Labor drop down list" with over 100 possible infractions - based on her feelings. Needless to say, everyone’s heads exploded and the hearing wrapped up quickly after her admission. The hearing officer vindicated Poochy Doos, LLC, ruling in its favor, confirming that Poochy Doos, LLC meets or exceeds the statutory requirements in each instance, thereby overturning the investigator's findings.
While the decision was a great victory, Mary was left with damages of over $30,000 in attorney’s fees. Due to the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (CGIA) Mary has no recourse to sue the Colorado State Department of Labor’s investigator for negligence, as the Government and its employees are immune from personal injury claims.
As Mary puts it: “Like the rest of the country, 2020 and 2021 were terrible years for everyone including our local business community. Poochy Doos was hit hard. Almost all of our clients quit using our service as they were working from home, and we exhausted most of our savings trying to stay afloat. We managed to hang on by providing contactless service to a few clients who were in the medical community and other frontline workers who continued to work in-person. Poochy made sacrifices to keep our pet sitters, so that we would be able to care for our clients when/if they returned. It’s just incredible that the State chose to audit Poochy and to go after a tiny company for no good reason, particularly when we sustained such a substantial loss that year. It’s been enormously difficult to have lost almost a year to worry and legal fees, on top of everything that we’ve been through over the last couple of years.”
Mary is now picking up the pieces to move forward, continuing to provide for the needs of pets and their owners in Fort Collins. Her success will depend largely on finding a way to pay the legal fees that were amassed defending Poochy Doos, LLC against the Department of Labor’s unjust allegations.
Thank you for any help you can give to Mary and this amazing, local small business. Your support will ensure that Poochy Doos, LLC can continue to provide loving pet care, so very needed in our community — for the health of our pets, and for all the people who love them!
