The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has issued proposed Equal Pay Transparency (EPT) Rules. The proposed rules seek to clarify Colorado’s Ensure Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. The Act, which goes into effect January 1, 2024, amended Colorado’s pay transparency statute. A public hearing on the proposed rules is scheduled for

Laura A. Mitchell
Laura A. Mitchell is a Principal in the Denver, Colorado, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is a member of the firm’s Affirmative Action and OFCCP Defense practice group as well as the firm’s Pay Equity Resource Group. She is also on the leadership team for the firm’s Government Contractor Industry Group.
Her practice is focused on representing government and non-government contractors in OFCCP matters, preparing for and defending OFCCP audits, and counseling employers on issues stemming from OFCCP regulations. Ms. Mitchell personally oversees the development of hundreds of AAPs each year and is intimately involved in the defense of numerous OFCCP audits. She also spends significant time counseling companies in connection with conducting pay equity analyses as well as government contractor employment obligations.
Ms. Mitchell is the editor and a principal contributor of The Affirmative Action Law Advisor blog and frequently presents on pay equity, affirmative action compliance, OFCCP enforcement trends, and government contractor obligations.
CO Release Timeline for Proposed Equal Pay Rules
As an update to our previous report on Colorado’s new Ensure Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, on July 28, 2023, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) issued a revised Interpretive Notice and Formal Opinion (INFO) #9 to establish a timeline for the proposed rulemaking process. According to INFO #9, proposed rules…
Hawaii Enacts Pay Transparency Law
Governor Josh Green has signed the newest pay transparency bill into law for the state of Hawaii. SB 1057, which goes into effect on January 1, 2024, will require Hawaii employers with at least 50 employees to disclose an hourly rate or salary range that reasonably reflects the actual expected compensation on job listings.
Colorado Legislature Passes the Ensure Equal Pay for Equal Work Act
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…
Study of EEO-1 Component 2 Pay Data Released
As the 2022 NILG National Conference was coming to a close, the EEOC released the long-awaited National Academy of Sciences report on the EEOC’s Pay Data Collection Completed in 2020. The study, titled Evaluation of Compensation Data Collected Through the EEO-1 Form, is a dense read at over 275 pages. The report found however, that…
Washington State to Join the Growing List of States with Expanding Pay Disclosure Requirements
The rise of state pay transparency laws continues, this time with Washington doubling down on its most recent round of pay equity legislation. If new legislation currently on the desk of Governor Inslee becomes law, Washington employers will soon be required to make affirmative compensation-based disclosures to both applicants and employees.
To date, Washington…
President Biden Signs Executive Order Promoting Pay Equity and Transparency
In addition to digesting OFCCP’s release of a new directive on compensation, government contractors may soon see new regulations around inquiries into and the use of prior salary information. In conjunction with Equal Pay Day, President Biden signed a new Executive Order on Advancing Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Federal Contracting by Promoting Pay…
OFCCP Releases New Compensation Directive
Hot off the press on Equal Pay Day (the day that symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year) OFCCP has released a new compensation directive. Directive 2022-01: Pay Equity Audits does little to set out how contractors should be looking at their pay systems…
Colorado Clarifies Rule on Remote Job Postings
The new Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (EPEW) and Equal Pay Transparency (EPT) rules have been garnering a lot of attention in recent weeks. First, the litigation challenging the law has been dismissed following denial of Plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction. More recently, the law has been in the news in…
Paycheck Fairness Act Fails to Advance in Senate
On June 11, 2021 the U.S. Senate failed to approve advancement of the latest iteration of the Paycheck Fairness Act. In a procedural cloture vote that fell along party lines the Act fell short of receiving the required 60 votes needed to move forward. As a reminder, the version of the Act proposed in February…