Colorado Workplace Harassment Laws: POWR Act Standard, 300 Days

Workplace harassment is an unfair employment practice in Colorado under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, which makes it unlawful "for an employer ... to harass during the course of employment" any individual otherwise qualified because of a protected trait (C.R.S. § 24-34-402(1)(a)(I)). For employment practices on or after August 7, 2023, the statute says harassing conduct "need not be severe or pervasive" to be unlawful, and the act covers every employer in the state regardless of size, apart from religious organizations that are not supported by taxation or public borrowing (§ 24-34-401(3)).

Those rules come from the 2023 Protecting Opportunities and Workers' Rights Act (POWR Act, S.B. 23-172), which rewrote the harassment part of the act and added limits on nondisclosure agreements. This page explains what Colorado law prohibits, who it covers and the deadlines that apply; for other states, see workplace harassment laws by state.

Information last verified on 2026-10-20. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Colorado state law on workplace harassment by employers, supervisors and coworkers under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, C.R.S. Title 24, Article 34, Part 4 (§§ 24-34-400.2 to 24-34-408), with the charge procedure in § 24-34-306. It does not cover wrongful firing or the full charge and lawsuit procedure (see Colorado wrongful termination), damages estimates, criminal harassment or stalking, harassment outside employment, or federal-employee procedure.

Colorado harassment rules at a glance

What Colorado law prohibits

Section 24-34-402(1)(a)(I) lists harassment as its own prohibited act alongside hiring, firing and pay decisions:

"It is a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice: (a) (I) For an employer to refuse to hire, to discharge, to promote or demote, to harass during the course of employment, or to discriminate in matters of compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment against any individual otherwise qualified because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, religion, age, national origin, or ancestry." (C.R.S. § 24-34-402(1)(a)(I))

How the statute defines harassment

The POWR Act added a statutory definition. Under § 24-34-402(1.3)(a), harassment means "any unwelcome physical or verbal conduct or any written, pictorial, or visual communication directed at an individual or group of individuals because of that individual's or group's membership in, or perceived membership in, a protected class," which "is subjectively offensive to the individual alleging harassment and is objectively offensive to a reasonable individual who is a member of the same protected class."

The same subsection sets the standard:

"The conduct or communication need not be severe or pervasive to constitute a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice under subsection (1)(a) of this section and is a violation of subsection (1)(a) of this section if: ... (III) The conduct or communication has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with the individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment." (C.R.S. § 24-34-402(1.3)(a))

In the act's legislative declaration, the General Assembly found that the severe or pervasive standard "created by courts" does not take into account "the realities of the workplace or the harm that workplace harassment causes," and it "rejects the severe or pervasive standard for proof of workplace harassment in favor of a standard that prohibits unwelcome harassment" (§ 24-34-400.2(2)).

The statute also addresses frequency and minor conduct:

• Frequency: § 24-34-402(1.3)(c)(II)(A) refers to "the frequency of the conduct or communication, recognizing that a single incident may rise to the level of harassment."
• Petty conduct: "petty slights, minor annoyances, and lack of good manners do not constitute harassment unless the slights, annoyances, or lack of manners, when taken individually or in combination and under the totality of the circumstances, meet the standards set forth in subsection (1.3)(a)" (§ 24-34-402(1.3)(c)(I)).

The new definition and standard apply to employment practices occurring on or after August 7, 2023, the POWR Act's effective date.

Which Colorado employers are covered

Colorado's act has no employee-count threshold. Section 24-34-401(3) defines employer as:

"the state of Colorado or any political subdivision, commission, department, institution, or school district thereof, and every other person employing persons within the state; but it does not mean religious organizations or associations, except such organizations or associations supported in whole or in part by money raised by taxation or public borrowing." (C.R.S. § 24-34-401(3))

That definition governs all of Part 4, so the same coverage rule applies to harassment and to every other form of discrimination in the act. By comparison, the federal Title VII definition of employer reaches employers with "fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year" (42 U.S.C. § 2000e(b)), so Colorado's definition reaches employers that Title VII's does not.

Who is protected: § 24-34-402(1)(a)(I) protects "any individual otherwise qualified," and § 24-34-401(2) defines employee as "any individual employed by an employer." Part 4's definitions do not mention interns, volunteers or independent contractors.

Protected traits under Colorado law

Section 24-34-402(1)(a)(I) lists:

• disability
• race
• creed
• color
• sex
• sexual orientation
• gender identity
• gender expression
• marital status
• religion
• age (40 or older; § 24-34-301(1) defines age as "a chronological age of at least forty years")
• national origin
• ancestry

For this act, race "includes hair texture, hair type, hair length, or a protective hairstyle that is commonly or historically associated with race," and a protective hairstyle "includes such hairstyles as braids, locs, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, Bantu knots, Afros, and headwraps" (§ 24-34-301(21), (17)). The hair provisions came from the CROWN Act, H.B. 20-1048, and the race definition was amended by H.B. 24-1451.

Gender expression is defined as "an individual's way of reflecting and expressing the individual's gender to the outside world, typically demonstrated through appearance, dress, behavior, chosen name, and how the individual chooses to be addressed" (§ 24-34-301(9)).

The harassment definition in § 24-34-402(1.3)(a) reaches conduct directed at someone because of "membership in, or perceived membership in, a protected class."

Employer responsibility and individual liability

Supervisor harassment and the affirmative defense

When an employee proves that a supervisor unlawfully harassed the employee in the hostile-environment sense described in § 24-34-402(1.3)(a)(III), the employer "may assert an affirmative defense to the harassment claim only if the employer establishes that":

1. "The employer has established a program that is reasonably designed to prevent harassment, deter future harassers, and protect employees from harassment"; the program qualifies if the employer can demonstrate that it "takes prompt, reasonable action to investigate or address" alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practices and "takes prompt, reasonable remedial actions, when warranted, in response to complaints" (§ 24-34-402(1.5)(a)(I)(A)-(B));
2. "The employer has communicated the existence and details of the program" to "both its supervisory and nonsupervisory employees"; and
3. "The employee has unreasonably failed to take advantage of the employer's program."

The three elements are joined by "and"; the employer must establish each one (§ 24-34-402(1.5)(a)). The statute adds that nothing in that subsection "supersedes or eliminates any other analyses, evaluations, or standards of liability for harassment established in this section and through judicial interpretation of Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964" (§ 24-34-402(1.5)(b)).

Individuals

The harassment clause in § 24-34-402(1)(a)(I) is written about employers. The provision that reaches individuals is § 24-34-402(1)(e), which makes it an unfair employment practice "for any person, whether or not an employer, an employment agency, a labor organization, or the employees or members thereof" to "aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any act defined in this section to be a discriminatory or unfair employment practice" (§ 24-34-402(1)(e)(I)).

Retaliation for complaining

The same subsection bars any person from discriminating against a person "because such person has opposed any practice made a discriminatory or an unfair employment practice by this part 4, because he has filed a charge with the commission, or because he has testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing" (§ 24-34-402(1)(e)(IV)). How a firing after a complaint fits with Colorado's default employment rule is covered on the Colorado at-will employment page.

Deadlines and where to file

Harassment charges go to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission under § 24-34-306; the Colorado Civil Rights Division issues the notice of right to sue (§ 24-34-306(15)).

• Agency charge: "Any charge alleging a violation of this part 4 must be filed with the commission pursuant to section 24-34-306 within three hundred days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred, and if a charge is not timely filed, it is barred" (§ 24-34-403). The 300-day period took effect August 10, 2022 (H.B. 22-1367); before that, the period was six months.
• Right to sue: the division "shall promptly grant a claimant's request for notice of right to sue made after the expiration of one hundred eighty days following the filing of the charge," and that notice "shall constitute final agency action and exhaustion of administrative remedies" (§ 24-34-306(15)).
• Court deadline: "The complainant must file a civil action within ninety days after the date upon which the jurisdiction of the commission ceased," and a late action is barred (§ 24-34-306(11)(b)).
• Federal charge: the EEOC states that its "180 calendar day filing deadline is extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law that prohibits employment discrimination on the same basis." The EEOC's Denver Field Office lists the Colorado Civil Rights Division as a fair employment practices agency and states that an individual has 300 days from the date of the alleged harm to file a charge with that office against an employer with 15 or more employees in Colorado (20 or more employees for age discrimination).

The steps between the charge and a lawsuit, and the remedies available, are on the Colorado wrongful termination page. The Colorado employment discrimination settlement calculator is an estimating tool, not a prediction of any outcome.

Training, policies and complaint records

Part 4 of the act, which runs from § 24-34-400.2 through § 24-34-408, contains no section requiring private employers to provide harassment training.

The act does give a prevention program legal weight: an employer can raise the supervisor-harassment defense in § 24-34-402(1.5)(a) only if it has a program "reasonably designed to prevent harassment, deter future harassers, and protect employees from harassment" and has communicated it to supervisory and nonsupervisory employees.

The POWR Act also added a record-keeping duty. Under § 24-34-408, an employer "shall maintain an accurate, designated repository of all written or oral complaints of discriminatory or unfair employment practices," including "the date of the complaint, the identity of the complaining party, if the complaint was not made anonymously, the identity of the alleged perpetrator, and the substance of the complaint."

Section 24-34-408(1) also requires an employer to preserve any personnel or employment record it made, received or kept for at least five years after the later of the date it made or received the record, or the date of the related personnel action or of the final disposition of a charge of discrimination or related action. Under § 24-34-408(3), personnel or employment records include employee complaints of discriminatory or unfair employment practices and records of training provided to employees.

NDAs and settlement agreements

Colorado limits confidentiality terms in agreements between an employer and an employee or prospective employee. Section 24-34-407(1) provides:

"A provision in an agreement entered into or renewed on or after August 7, 2023, between an employer and an employee or a prospective employee that limits the ability of the employee or prospective employee to disclose or discuss, either orally or in writing, any alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice, which provision is referred to in this section as a nondisclosure provision, is void unless: (a) The nondisclosure provision applies equally to all parties to the agreement; ..." (C.R.S. § 24-34-407(1))

The section lists further conditions after (a). Among them, the provision must expressly state that it does not restrain the employee or prospective employee from disclosing the underlying facts of any alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice, including the existence and terms of a settlement agreement, to immediate family members, a religious advisor, a medical or mental health provider, a therapeutic support group, legal counsel, a financial advisor or a tax preparer. The same statement must cover disclosure to any local, state or federal government agency and in response to legal process, in both cases without first notifying the employer, and disclosure for all other purposes required by law (§ 24-34-407(1)(b)).

Any liquidated damages must be reasonable, proportionate and not punitive, and the agreement must include an addendum signed by all parties attesting to compliance. A provision that fails the conditions is void, and "an employer is liable for actual damages and a penalty of five thousand dollars per violation" (§ 24-34-407(2)(a)).

The rule covers agreements entered into or renewed on or after August 7, 2023, and it reaches any alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice, not only harassment. Federal law adds limits for sexual harassment disputes (the Speak Out Act for predispute nondisclosure clauses and the Ending Forced Arbitration Act for predispute arbitration agreements), explained on the workplace harassment laws hub.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Colorado?

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act reaches harassment because of membership, or perceived membership, in a protected class. Part 4 contains no provision on general workplace bullying that is not tied to one of the protected traits, and it states that petty slights, minor annoyances and lack of good manners are not harassment unless they meet the § 24-34-402(1.3)(a) standard.

Documenting harassment and workplace monitoring

The rules on recording a conversation at work, including a conversation with a harasser, are on the Colorado workplace recording laws page. Employer monitoring of email, devices and workspaces is covered on the Colorado employee monitoring laws page.

Recent changes to Colorado harassment law

• 2020: H.B. 20-1048 (the CROWN Act) added hair texture, hair type and protective hairstyles to the definition of race in § 24-34-301, effective September 14, 2020.
• 2022: H.B. 22-1367 extended the charge deadline in § 24-34-403 to 300 days, effective August 10, 2022.
• 2023: S.B. 23-172, the POWR Act, added marital status to the protected traits in § 24-34-402(1)(a), added the harassment definition and the "need not be severe or pervasive" standard (§ 24-34-402(1.3)), the legislative declaration rejecting the severe or pervasive standard (§ 24-34-400.2), the limited supervisor-harassment defense (§ 24-34-402(1.5)), the nondisclosure rules (§ 24-34-407) and the complaint-repository duty (§ 24-34-408), effective August 7, 2023.
• 2024: S.B. 24-160 amended § 24-34-408(2)(b), effective August 7, 2024.
• 2025: H.B. 25-1312 (the Kelly Loving Act) amended the definition of gender expression in § 24-34-301(9) to include chosen name and how an individual chooses to be addressed.

Related pages

• Workplace harassment laws by state
• Colorado wrongful termination
• Colorado at-will employment laws
• Colorado employee monitoring laws
• Colorado workplace recording laws

This article provides general legal information about Colorado workplace harassment law under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, C.R.S. Title 24, Article 34, Part 4, as of 2026-10-20. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Colorado or the Colorado Civil Rights Division.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is workplace harassment illegal in Colorado?

Yes. C.R.S. § 24-34-402(1)(a)(I) makes it a discriminatory or unfair employment practice for an employer to harass an individual during the course of employment because of disability, race (defined to include hair texture, hair type, hair length and protective hairstyles associated with race), creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, religion, age (40 and over), national origin or ancestry.

Does harassment have to be severe or pervasive in Colorado?

Not for employment practices on or after August 7, 2023. Section 24-34-402(1.3)(a) says the conduct or communication need not be severe or pervasive; it must be subjectively offensive to the person alleging harassment and objectively offensive to a reasonable member of the same protected class.

Does Colorado harassment law apply to small employers?

Yes. Section 24-34-401(3) defines employer as the state, its subdivisions and every other person employing persons in Colorado, with no minimum number of employees. Religious organizations are excluded unless supported in whole or in part by taxation or public borrowing.

How long do you have to file a harassment charge in Colorado?

A charge must be filed with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission within 300 days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred, and an untimely charge is barred (§ 24-34-403). A later civil action must be filed within 90 days after the commission's jurisdiction ceases (§ 24-34-306(11)(b)).

Can a single incident be harassment in Colorado?

Section 24-34-402(1.3)(c)(II)(A) refers to the frequency of the conduct or communication, recognizing that a single incident may rise to the level of harassment. Petty slights, minor annoyances and lack of good manners are not harassment unless they meet the (1.3)(a) standard.

Does Colorado require harassment training for private employers?

Part 4 of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act contains no section requiring private employers to provide harassment training. An employer's supervisor-harassment defense under § 24-34-402(1.5) does depend on having a program reasonably designed to prevent harassment and communicating it to employees.

Are harassment NDAs enforceable in Colorado?

Under § 24-34-407, a provision in an agreement between an employer and an employee or prospective employee entered into or renewed on or after August 7, 2023 that limits an employee or prospective employee from discussing an alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice is void unless it meets the section's conditions, starting with applying equally to all parties. An employer is liable for actual damages and a $5,000 penalty per violation.

Is workplace bullying illegal in Colorado?

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act reaches harassment because of membership or perceived membership in a protected class. Part 4 contains no provision on general workplace bullying unconnected to a protected trait.