New Employment Laws

By Dora Esparza, Director of Business Services

There are some important human resources law changes that are effective as of August 2023.

The Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights Act redefines harassment in the workplace. It is always helpful to speak to an HR professional or an attorney if you have any questions about or are experiencing claims of harassment in your organization. The Job Application Fairness Act highlights some changes in hiring practices that might be applicable to your programs. Here are the basics:

Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights Act- SB23-172  

This law changes the definition of “harassment” in the workplace environment. Previously harassment had to meet the definition of “severe and pervasive” for an individual to prove a hostile work environment. Under this new law, harassment only needs to be unwelcome to create a hostile work environment for an employee. Additionally, this law adds an employee’s marital status as a protected class for which discrimination is not allowed. This law also requires an employee to maintain personnel and employment records for at least 5 years with regards to complaints of discriminatory or unfair employment practices.

You can find more specific information and the bill summary here: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-172

Job Application Fairness Act SB23-058

The main thing SB23-058 does is prohibit employers from asking about a prospective hire’s age, date of birth, and when they attended or graduated from school on an initial job application.

There are a few exceptions, however. Namely, the application may request someone to verify their age to make sure they comply with certain age requirements. These age requirements can be from federal, local or state law.

Find more specific information and the bill summary at https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB23-058

As always, if you are in need of administrative or leadership coaching, please feel free to reach out to me at dora@denverearlychildhood.org.