Colorado § 8-4-120 - Discrimination and retaliation prohibited - employee protections - criminal penalties - civil remedies.

§ 8-4-120. Discrimination and retaliation prohibited - employee protections - criminal penalties - civil remedies.

(1) An employer, or any other person that is regularly engaged in business or commercial activity that has contracted with an employer or worker, directly or indirectly, for labor from which such person is the beneficiary, shall not intimidate, threaten, restrain, coerce, blacklist, discharge, or in any manner discriminate or retaliate against an employee or worker who has:

(a) Filed a complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted a proceeding under this article 4 or any other law or rule related to wages, hours, or employment of minors;

(b) Testified or provided other evidence, or may testify or provide other evidence, in a proceeding on behalf of the employee or another person regarding afforded protections under this article 4 or under any other law or rule related to wages, hours, or the employment of minors; or

(c) Raised concerns in good faith about compliance with or otherwise provided information as to legal rights and remedies available under this article 4 or any other law or rule related to wages or hours to any person.

(2) A person that violates this section commits a class 2 misdemeanor.

(3) (a) An employee or worker who alleges a violation of subsection (1) of this section may file a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction against the employer alleged to have violated this section to seek legal and equitable relief as appropriate to remedy the violation, including:

(I) Back pay;

(II) Reinstatement of employment or, if reinstatement is not feasible, front pay;

(III) The payment of wages unlawfully withheld;

(IV) Interest on unpaid wages at a rate of twelve percent per annum from the date the wages were first due;

(V) The payment of a penalty of fifty dollars per day for each employee whose rights under this section were violated and for each day that the violation occurred or continued;

(VI) Liquidated damages in an amount equal to the greater of two times the amount of the unpaid wages or other lost pay or compensation or two thousand dollars;

(VII) Injunctive relief; and

(VIII) Compensatory damages for other economic or noneconomic loss or injury shown by competent evidence, which, to the extent within the meaning of section 24-34-405 (3)(c) and (3)(e), damages for emotional distress must not exceed the amounts specified in section 24-34-405 (3)(d).

(b) If an aggrieved person prevails in a civil action brought pursuant to this subsection (3), the court shall award the person reasonable attorney fees and costs.

(c) (I) In determining whether there has been retaliation as prohibited in subsection (1) of this section, a fact finder shall consider the time between an individual's exercise of a protected activity and an employer's adverse action. A period of ninety or fewer days between the exercise of a protected activity and the adverse action may, without more, be sufficient to find retaliatory intent. Adverse action occurring more than ninety days after the exercise of a protected activity may also constitute retaliation.

(II) Any effort to use an individual's immigration status to in any manner discriminate or retaliate against an employee or worker who has engaged in activity described in subsection (1) of this section is a violation of this section.

(4) The division may investigate and enforce discrimination or retaliation prohibited by this article 4 or article 6 of this title 8 and, after investigation, may order the relief specified in subsection (3)(a) of this section and reasonable attorney fees and costs.

Source: L. 2003: Entire article amended with relocations, p. 1862, § 1, effective August 6. L. 2021: Entire section amended, (SB 21-271), ch. 462, p. 3141, § 88, effective March 1, 2022. L. 2022: Entire section amended, (SB 22-161), ch. 370, p. 2636, § 11, effective August 10. L. 2024: (1)(a) amended, (HB 24-1095), ch. 378, p. 2567, § 5, effective January 1, 2025. L. 2025: Entire section amended, (HB 25-1001), ch. 228, p. 1044, § 7, effective August 6.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 8-4-124 as it existed prior to 2003, and the former § 8-4-120 was relocated to § 8-4-117.

Cross references: For the penalty for a class 2 misdemeanor, see § 18-1.3-501.

ANNOTATION

Employee unable to establish prima facie case of retaliation as he is unable to show that employer's counterclaims, which were filed in response to his wage claim lawsuit and have an arguable basis cognizable in law, constitute an adverse employment action. Ott v. ChaCha in Art LLC, 506 F. Supp. 3d 1133 (D. Colo. 2020).