Gov. Jared Polis has signed into law several employment-related bills passed this legislative session that bring significant changes to employment law in Colorado.

The most impactful of these new laws is Senate Bill 172, the Protecting Opportunities and Workers' Rights Act (POWR), which substantively changes workplace harassment law in Colorado. POWR explicitly rejects the familiar "severe or pervasive" standard for legally actionable harassment, meaning that over the next few years, courts will be figuring out what types and frequency of conduct now qualify as "harassment" under a more lenient standard. POWR also requires employers to preserve "any personnel or employment record" made or received for at least five years after (1) the employer receives the record or (2) after the date of the personnel action or charge or lawsuit disposition related to the record, whichever is later. Employers also are now required to "maintain an accurate, designated repository of all written or oral complaints or discriminatory or unfair employment practices," including workplace harassment. For each complaint, the employer must record the date of the complaint, the identity of the complaining party if known, the identity of the alleged perpetrator, and the substance of the complaint.

POWR also adds marital status to the list of protected classes. The bill takes effect August 6, 2023.

New legislation also changed Colorado's paid sick leave and equal pay laws. As a result of Senate Bill 17, employees will now be able to use paid sick leave to grieve, attend funeral services, or deal with financial or legal matters arising from the death of a family member; to care for a family member whose place of care has closed due to inclement weather, loss of power, heating or water, or some other occurrence or event resulting in closure; and in the event the employee needs to evacuate his or her residence due to inclement weather, loss of power, heating, or water, or some other unexpected occurrence.

Senate Bill 105 tweaked Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act in several ways that will require employers to provide more information about job openings than they are required to under the original law. The bill essentially replaces the term "promotion" from the original law with "job opportunity," a term more appropriate for the incredibly broad and illogical definition of "promotion" employers have been forced to apply in recent years. The bill also made the following adjustments to the existing statute.

• An employer physically located entirely outside of Colorado and whose only Colorado employees work remotely need only provide notice to its Colorado employees of remote job opportunities.
• Job opportunity notifications to existing employees must include the hourly or salary compensation or range of compensation, a general description of benefits and other compensation, and the date the application window is anticipated to close.
• Within 30 days after a candidate is selected for hire, the employer must make "reasonable efforts" to inform "the employees with whom the employer intends the ... candidate to work with regularly" the candidate's name, new job title, old job title, and information about how employees can demonstrate interest in similar job opportunities in the future.  
• The employer must notify all employees eligible for positions with career progression of the requirements for career progression; each position's terms of compensation; benefits; full-time or part-time status; duties; and access to future advancement.
• Employees alleging a violation of EPEWA's pay equity provisions can seek back pay for up to six years, increased from three years.

Although not as substantive in their impact on employers, Governor Polis also signed Senate Bill 58, effective July 1, 2024, prohibiting employers from asking for age, birthdate, or dates of attendance or graduation from an educational institution on a job application, and HB 1006, requiring employers to provide employees with notice of certain tax credits.

It will take months, if not years, for the exact contours of these changes to be developed, whether through practice or judicial decision.