Hiring This Fall? Your Colorado Job Posting Needs More Than a Salary Range

You finally get approval to hire.

The job description is ready. You dust off the posting you used last time, update a few responsibilities, add a salary range, and get ready to hit publish.

Not so fast.

Colorado has some of the more detailed job posting and hiring requirements in the country, and a salary range is only one piece of the puzzle.

If you are hiring this fall, preparing for year-end growth, or beginning to think about staffing for 2027, this is a good time to make sure your recruiting process has kept up with the rules.

The good news is that compliance does not have to make hiring complicated. Most of it comes down to knowing what needs to be in the posting, making sure your employees hear about job opportunities, and avoiding a handful of questions that Colorado employers should not be asking in the first place.

What has to be included in a Colorado job posting?

Colorado employers cannot simply post a title, a few job duties, and "competitive compensation."

Under Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and the state’s Posting, Screening, and Transparency rules, covered job postings generally need to include the hourly rate or salary being offered, or a range of compensation. Employers also need to provide a general description of bonuses, commissions, or other compensation, along with the employment benefits being offered.

And there is more.

The posting needs to explain how someone can apply and include the anticipated application deadline. Colorado’s rules specifically identify health care benefits, retirement benefits, paid leave and other reportable employment benefits among the information that may need to be described.

That means a compliant posting might include a salary range, eligibility for medical insurance, retirement benefits, paid time off, bonus opportunities, an application method, and a date by which applicants should apply.

It does not need to become a benefits booklet.

It does need to give candidates a meaningful picture of what the job actually offers.

Can you say "open until filled"?

Usually, that is where things get tricky.

Colorado requires employers to make a good-faith estimate of when the application window is expected to close and include that deadline in the posting. According to CDLE guidance, simply writing "open until filled" does not satisfy that requirement for an ordinary opening.

If your original deadline was reasonable but you need more time because you did not receive enough qualified applicants, you can extend it. The key is that the original deadline was a genuine estimate and the posting is updated promptly when the date changes.

There is an exception for true evergreen positions. These are jobs for which an employer continuously accepts applications because there is an ongoing need for people in the same position. In that situation, the employer can disclose that applications are accepted on an ongoing basis rather than inventing an artificial deadline.

There is a big difference between continually recruiting servers because you regularly need more servers and leaving one accounting manager position posted indefinitely because you are not sure when you want to make a decision.

Colorado recognizes that difference.

Does the salary range have to be realistic?

Yes.

A range should represent what the employer actually believes it may pay for the position.

Posting a range from $40,000 to $140,000 just so every possible outcome is covered defeats the purpose of pay transparency and may not reflect a good-faith compensation range.

This is one reason recruiting and compensation planning should happen together.

Before the job goes online, somebody should know what the business is genuinely prepared to pay, what experience might justify movement within the range, and how that compensation compares with employees already performing substantially similar work.

That last piece matters.

Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act is not only a job-posting law. It also prohibits certain pay disparities based on sex for employees performing substantially similar work and restricts employers from asking applicants about prior wage history.

Hiring someone is not just about deciding what the new person should make.

It is also an opportunity to ask whether the compensation structure already inside the business makes sense.

Do you have to tell current employees about the opening?

This is one of the requirements small employers can easily miss.

Colorado’s rules generally require employers to make reasonable efforts to notify Colorado employees about job opportunities before a selection decision is made.

And employers generally cannot decide that certain employees probably would not be interested and therefore do not need to know.

CDLE guidance explains that employers must notify employees of job opportunities even when management does not believe everyone is qualified or likely to apply. The employer can establish legitimate qualifications for the role and evaluate applicants against them. What it generally should not do is quietly decide who deserves to know that the opportunity exists.

This requirement matters when you are hiring from outside the company.

It matters when you are considering an internal candidate.

And it can matter even when everyone in leadership already assumes they know who will get the job.

The safest habit is to build the internal notification step into your normal hiring process rather than trying to remember it case by case.

Wait, there is something employers have to do after the person is hired too?

Yep.

Colorado also has a post-selection notice requirement.

Within 30 calendar days after a selected candidate begins working in the position, employers generally must make reasonable efforts to notify the employees who will regularly work with that person.

The notice includes the selected candidate’s name, their former job title if they were already an employee, their new job title, and information explaining how employees can express interest in similar opportunities in the future. Colorado’s rules define employees who "work with regularly" to include people who collaborate or communicate about work at least monthly or have a reporting relationship, although employers can always send the notice more broadly.

For a 15-person business, sending the notice to everyone may be easier than figuring out exactly who falls into the required group.

Sometimes compliance and simplicity can actually be friends.

What about promotions?

Promotions deserve a little extra attention because not every advancement works the same way under Colorado law.

If there is a genuine vacancy or job opportunity and the employer is considering someone for it, notification requirements may apply even if leadership already has an internal person in mind.

Colorado does recognize exceptions for certain career development and career progression situations. For example, a regular or automatic progression tied to objective criteria can be treated differently from a competitive vacancy.

But employers with career progression structures still have disclosure obligations. Eligible employees generally need information about what is required to progress, along with details such as compensation, benefits, job status, duties, and opportunities for further advancement.

The practical lesson is simple.

Do not assume something stops being a job opportunity just because you are calling it a promotion.

Your job application deserves a compliance review too

The job posting is only the beginning.

Colorado also regulates certain information employers can request or use during the hiring process.

For example, employers generally cannot ask applicants about their wage history or use prior wage information to determine what someone should be paid. Colorado’s Job Application Fairness Act also restricts employers from asking for age-related information such as an applicant’s age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation on an initial employment application.

Colorado’s Chance to Compete Act restricts questions about criminal history on initial applications, although criminal history may be considered later in the hiring process in appropriate circumstances. State law also places limits on employer use of personal credit information and access to applicants’ personal social media accounts.

This is where old application forms become dangerous.

A company may have used the same application for ten years and never had a problem.

That does not mean the questions on it are still appropriate today.

Hiring documents are one of those things that deserve an occasional trip out of the dusty HR folder for a fresh look.

What about remote jobs?

Remote hiring has made Colorado’s pay transparency requirements harder to ignore.

CDLE guidance states that a remote job that can be performed in Colorado generally remains subject to Colorado’s posting requirements. Simply writing that Colorado applicants will not be considered does not necessarily remove the requirement if the work itself can be performed remotely from Colorado.

There is a narrower exception for jobs that are actually performed entirely outside Colorado, such as a position tied to a physical worksite in another state.

So if your company posts remote jobs nationally, do not assume Colorado law becomes irrelevant because the company headquarters are somewhere else.

Remote work has a funny way of bringing state employment laws along for the ride.

What happens if a Colorado job posting is not compliant?

Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment accepts complaints involving pay transparency, job opportunity notices, post-selection notices, career progression information, and required records.

The Equal Pay for Equal Work Act also authorizes fines ranging from $500 to $10,000 per violation for certain violations of the law’s transparency requirements.

That does not mean every typo in a job posting is going to result in a five-figure penalty.

It does mean this is worth getting right.

Especially because most of the requirements are relatively easy to incorporate into a repeatable hiring process once someone takes the time to build it.

What should employers review before posting their next job?

Before you hit publish, look at the posting the way both a candidate and a regulator might.

Can someone clearly tell what the job pays?

Are bonuses, commissions, or other compensation explained if they apply?

Are the benefits described?

Does the posting tell the person how to apply?

Is there a real application deadline or a legitimate ongoing-application statement for an evergreen position?

Have your Colorado employees been given the appropriate notice of the opportunity?

Then look one step further.

Does the application ask about age, graduation dates, salary history, criminal history, or other information that should not be requested at that stage?

And finally, decide who is responsible for the post-selection notice once the hire starts.

The biggest compliance problems often are not caused by a business intentionally ignoring the law.

They happen because nobody owns the process.

Frequently asked questions

Do Colorado job postings have to include a salary?

Covered postings generally must disclose the hourly rate or salary being offered, or a good-faith compensation range. They also generally need to describe other compensation and benefits and explain how and when candidates can apply.

Do small businesses have to comply with Colorado pay transparency rules?

Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work requirements apply broadly to employers with Colorado employees. Small employers should not assume they are exempt simply because they have a small headcount. Specific geographic and limited employer exceptions can apply, so unusual situations should be reviewed individually.

Can we extend the application deadline?

Yes. CDLE guidance allows an employer to extend a deadline when the original deadline was a good-faith estimate. The posting should be updated promptly to show the new deadline.

Do we have to externally advertise every job?

No. Colorado does not require every opportunity to be advertised externally. An employer may fill a position through an internal process, but applicable internal job opportunity notification and disclosure requirements still need to be followed.

Can we ask what an applicant made at their previous job?

Generally, no. Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act restricts employers from asking applicants about prior wage history or relying on prior wage history when setting compensation.

Can we ask an applicant when they graduated from high school or college?

Colorado’s Job Application Fairness Act generally prohibits requests for age-related information, including dates of school attendance or graduation, on an initial employment application, subject to limited exceptions.

A good hiring process should help you find great people, not create new problems

Small business hiring moves fast.

Someone gives notice. A customer signs a new contract. Business suddenly picks up. Everyone realizes the team needed another person three months ago.

That is usually when somebody grabs an old job description, changes the date, and posts it.

And that is exactly when easy compliance steps get missed.

The answer is not to turn hiring into a bureaucratic monster.

It is to create a simple process that works every time.

Build the compensation range before you recruit. Use a compliant posting template. Review your application questions. Tell employees about opportunities. Document the hiring decision. Send the required notice after the person starts.

Then go back to the part that actually matters most: finding someone great to join the team.

HR compliance should create structure around your business, not slow it down.

That is the kind of HR relationship we believe small businesses deserve at Savvion.

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