Updates To Employment Discrimination Laws

The act amends employment discrimination laws, commonly referred to as the "Colorado Anti-discrimination Act" or "CADA", as follows:

• With regard to the jurisdiction of the Colorado civil rights commission (commission) over discrimination complaints, instead of allowing the commission 270 days to notice a hearing on the complaint and the ability to grant the parties an extension of up to an additional 180 days, allows the commission a total of 450 days to notice a hearing on the complaint or lose jurisdiction over the complaint;
• Expands the definition of "employee" to include individuals in domestic service and specifies that it is not a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice with respect to sex for a person to consider sex when hiring an employee to engage in child-care-related domestic services;
• Extends the time limit to file a charge with the commission from 6 months to 300 days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred; and
• Repeals the prohibition, applicable in age discrimination cases only, against the relief and recovery of certain damages so that the remedies available in employment discrimination claims are consistent, regardless of the type of discrimination alleged.

The act appropriates $113,548 from the general fund to the department of regulatory agencies for use by the civil rights division to implement the act, with $98,718 allocated for personal services and $14,830 for operating expenses.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)