The Colorado legislature has passed the Ensure Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, amending the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (EPEW) to clarify and enhance an employer’s obligations relating to announcement of a promotional opportunity (which the Act refers to as a “job opportunity”).
The Act was sent to Governor Jared Polis and he is expected to sign it into law. The effective date of the new law is January 1, 2024.
The Act establishes definitions for the terms “career development,” “career progression,” “job opportunity,” and “vacancy.” The term “promotional opportunity” is not defined or used in the Act, departing from the previous language used in the EPEW.
“Job opportunity” is defined as “a current or anticipated vacancy for which the employer is considering a candidate or candidates or interviewing a candidate or candidates or that the employer externally posts.” Job opportunities do not include “career development” or “career progression” (as was the case under the EPEW). A “vacancy” is “an open position, whether as a result of a newly created position or a vacated position.”
“Career development” 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 compensate the employee to reflect work performed or contributions already made by the employee.” A “career progression” means “a regular or automatic movement from one...
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