Coverage thresholds, what has to be disclosed and filed, by when, and what happens if it isn’t — for employers with people in Colorado.
Colorado was first, and it is still the most demanding. It is the only state that requires employers to tell existing employees about a job opening before making a selection decision — and to tell them afterwards who got it.
No employer size threshold. Applies to any employer with at least one employee in Colorado, public or private.
The obligation most employers outside Colorado do not know exists. In force since 1 July 2024.
Colorado does not have a 15-employee or 25-employee floor. The EPEWA applies to any employer, public or private, with at least one employee in Colorado. A company with a single remote Colorado engineer is fully covered.
There is one narrow exception, and it is closing. An employer with no physical location in Colorado and fewer than 15 Colorado employees, all working remotely, need only give notice of remote job opportunities. That exception sunsets on 1 July 2029.
This is the provision that surprises people. Within 30 days of the selected candidate’s start date, the employer must notify employees who regularly work with that person — defined as monthly collaboration or a supervisory relationship — of the selected candidate’s name, their former job title if internal, their new job title, and how employees may express interest in similar future opportunities.
The selected candidate may request in writing that their name and title be withheld for safety reasons. Multiple hires may be grouped into a single notice.
Separately, employers must disclose to eligible employees the requirements for career progression, plus each position’s compensation, benefits, full or part-time status, duties, and access to further advancement. In practice this means Colorado employers need a documented job architecture whether or not they wanted one.
Under C.R.S. § 8-5-202, employers must retain job descriptions and wage rate history for each employee for the duration of employment plus two years.
Failure to keep those records creates a rebuttable presumption that the missing records were favourable to the employee’s claim, and a court may instruct the jury that the failure is evidence of bad faith. Recordkeeping violations are fined per affected employee. Very few states attach an adverse inference to a recordkeeping lapse; Colorado does.
The transparency provisions (Part 2) carry CDLE fines of $500 to $10,000 per violation with no private right of action. Each posting, or failure to post, is a separate violation, though multiple postings of the same job count once. Complaints must be filed within one year.
The pay discrimination provisions (Part 1) do carry a private right of action, with economic damages plus liquidated damages equal to economic damages — avoidable on a good-faith showing — and back pay for up to six years, raised from three by SB 23-105. Claims must be brought within two years of the violation.
We support Colorado employers on the compensation side of this — pay equity analysis, range architecture, and how executive pay reads inside a filing or a published range. We are not attorneys and this page is not legal advice; the filings themselves are usually handled with employment counsel.
For advisory work in the region, see our Denver executive compensation page.
Yes. There is no size threshold. The Equal Pay for Equal Work Act applies to any employer, public or private, with at least one employee in Colorado. The only exception is narrow and temporary: an employer with no Colorado physical location and fewer than 15 Colorado employees, all remote, need only give notice of remote opportunities — and that exception sunsets on 1 July 2029.
Before making a selection decision, employers must make reasonable efforts to announce each job opportunity to all Colorado employees on the same calendar day, in writing, with enough lead time to apply. Then within 30 days of the new hire's start date, employees who regularly work with that person must be told the selected candidate's name, prior and new job title, and how to register interest in future openings. No other state requires this.
Generally yes, where the role could be performed in Colorado or reports into a Colorado supervisor, office or worksite. The specifics vary — some states test on where the work is performed, others on the reporting line, and several catch out-of-state employers recruiting locally-based remote staff. Check the coverage language above against your own arrangements rather than assuming a headquarters test.
No. It is a compensation practitioner's summary of published requirements, current as at July 2026, intended to help you scope the compensation work these obligations create. Pay legislation in this area has been amended frequently and several provisions carry sunset dates. Confirm current requirements with employment counsel before acting.
Pay equity analysis and range architecture, sequenced so findings can be acted on rather than merely disclosed.
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