On June 7, 2023, Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill (SB) 23-172 into law, radically transforming Colorado’s employment discrimination legal landscape by expanding the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA). SB 23-172, the Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights (POWR) Act, establishes that “[i]t is the public policy of the state to encourage … [e]mployers to adopt equal employment opportunity policies” prohibiting and addressing harassment and discrimination, as well as to encourage free reporting and communication around discriminatory and unfair employment practices in the workplace.

Quick Hits

• The POWR Act adds “unwelcome” conduct to the definition of “harassment” and rejects the judicially created “severe or pervasive” standard of proof.
• Nondisclosure agreements are void under the POWR Act unless they meet several conditions.
• The POWR Act will not take effect until at least ninety days after the General Assembly adjourns.

To that end, the POWR Act broadens the type of conduct that constitutes harassment and restricts employers’ use of affirmative defenses. The legislation repeals the current legal definition of “harass” (“to create a hostile work environment based upon an individual’s race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, age, or religion”) for a broader definition with a much lower threshold of proof. These changes will make it easier for employees to plead and prove harassment claims. In...

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