The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) is a law that prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on protected classes such as disability, race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, and pregnancy. Employers in Colorado are not allowed to discriminate against employees based on their protected class. The Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD) is responsible for enforcing CADA and investigates complaints of employment discrimination. Complaints must be filed within 300 days of receiving notification that the alleged discriminatory or unfair labor practice occurred. In addition to CADA, wage transparency laws are becoming increasingly popular in the United States.
These laws are an attempt to address wage disparities based on ethnicity, gender and age. The City of Colorado Springs has taken steps to ensure that it does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its hiring or employment practices. It also does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, religion or family status when providing programs, services or activities that receive federal financial assistance. To comply with overtime pay laws in Colorado, Rippling's payroll software automatically applies the correct overtime pay rates when an employee activates overtime pay requirements. The Equal Pay for Equal Work Act is one of the most important labor laws passed in Colorado in recent years.
This law requires employers to provide equal pay for equal work regardless of ethnicity, gender or age. It also includes an exception until July 1, 2029 for employers without a physical presence in Colorado and with fewer than 15 remote employees working in Colorado. These employers are only required to report remote work opportunities. The Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA) requires all employers to offer their employees cumulative paid sick leave (up to 48 hours per year) and emergency public health leave (up to 80 hours per emergency). Legislative provisions also allow lawsuits to be filed against employers who fire employees for carrying out legal activities outside the facility during non-working hours, responding to a jury summons and certain activities classified as whistleblowing. Medical marijuana is legal in Colorado but employers are not required to allow its use at work.
Colorado law allows a person to carry a firearm in a vehicle if its use is for the legal protection of that person or another person's person or property. It also allows a person to own a gun in a home, place of business or car. In accordance with the requirements of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the City of Colorado Springs will not discriminate against people with disabilities on the basis of disability in its services, programs or activities. The changes in this law are primarily aimed at the rules that apply in litigation and at limiting the employer's defenses once an employee files a claim.
