The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) recently issued guidance on changes to the state’s pay transparency rules.
The details
Background
In 2023, Colorado enacted legislation that amended the state’s rules for pay and opportunity transparency in internal and external job postings. The amendments took effect January 1, 2024.
Under the amended law, employers must disclose all job opportunities (not just promotion opportunities) to all employees (with the required disclosures as set forth below), in addition to disclosing who was selected for the role. An employer is not required to have an external posting, but if they do, they must follow all the disclosure requirements.
However, if an employer is only physically located outside of Colorado and has fewer than fifteen employees working in Colorado, all of whom work remotely, then through July 1, 2029, the employer is only required to provide notice of remote job opportunities.
An employer must in good faith disclose the following in the notification of each job opportunity:
- The hourly or salary compensation or range of the hourly or salary pay.
- A general description of benefits and other compensation applicable to the job opportunity.
- The date the application window is expected to close.
Employers must make reasonable efforts to announce, post, or otherwise make known, within 30 calendar days after a candidate who is selected to fill a job opportunity begins working, the following information to, at a minimum, the employees with whom the selected candidate is expected to work regularly:
- The name of the selected candidate.
- The selected candidate’s former job title if hired from within the company.
- The selected candidate’s new job title.
- Information on how employees may express interest in similar future opportunities, including who to reach out to for more information.
The law doesn’t require identification of the selected candidate in any manner that would violate their privacy rights or would place their health or safety at risk.
A “job opportunity” is defined as a current or anticipated vacancy for which the employer is considering candidates or interviewing candidates, or that the employer externally posts. The definition of “job opportunity” excludes:
- “Career progression,” which is defined as a regular or automatic movement from one position to another based on time in a specific role or other objective metrics.
- “Career development,” which is defined as a change to an employee’s terms of compensation, benefits, full-time or part-time status, duties, or access to further advancement in order to update the employee’s job title or to compensate the employee to reflect work performed or contributions already made by the employee.
Recently Issued Guidance
The CDLE’s guidance addresses the amendments to the pay transparency rules and provides additional clarifications.
Career Development Exception
The CDLE’s guidance clarifies that for the career development exception to apply, the existing work or contributions must be part of the employee’s existing job and aren’t a part of a different position with a current or anticipated vacancy. Employers aren’t required to send job opportunity notices of career development position changes.
Career Progression Exception
The guidance also clarifies that for positions subject to the career progression exception, employers must provide a career progression notice to all eligible employees. The notice must include the requirements for career progression and each position’s terms of compensation, benefits, full-time or part-time status, duties, and access to further advancement. Eligible employees are defined as “those in the position that, when the requirements in the notice are satisfied, would move from their position to another position listed in the notice as a ‘career progression.’”
Application Deadline
The guidance also addresses two exceptions to the requirement to disclose the application deadline. If the employer discloses that it accepts ongoing applications, no deadline is required.
An application deadline may also be extended if the original deadline was a good-faith expectation of what the deadline would be, and the posting is promptly updated with any deadline extension.
Temporary Hires
A job opportunity notice isn’t required for acting, interim, or temporary (AINT) positions of up to nine months — unless the same position was held by an AINT hire for seven months of the previous year, according to the guidance. Other employees must be notified if an AINT hire is for a position not scheduled to end in nine months.
Post Selection Notification
The guidance also clarifies the post-selection notice requirements. If an employee informs their employer in writing, on their own initiative, and voluntarily that they believe disclosing their name and/or former job title would put their health or safety at risk, the employer must not disclose that information. Employees need not disclose what the risk is, or why they believe there is a risk, and employers must not interfere with or retaliate against an employee who exercises this right. If this opt-out is exercised, an employer must still provide a post-selection notice to employees that the position is filled and inform them how they can express interest in future job opportunities.
Next steps
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