What employers can and cannot ask in a Colorado interview

The rules have changed, and they keep changing

Colorado employment law has been one of the more active state employment-law landscapes in the country over the last several years. The Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, the Job Application Fairness Act, the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, and amendments to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act have layered on top of existing federal law and have changed what an employer can and cannot ask in an interview, what they have to disclose, and what protections applicants and employees have.

The result is that the rules in Colorado today are different from the rules in many other states, different from the rules five years ago in Colorado, and different from what most general HR templates assume. This article walks through the working framework — both for employers trying to do this right and for applicants who want to understand what their rights are.

Federal floor: what was already off-limits

Before any state law layers on, federal law already restricts interview questions in several areas. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and several others prohibit employment decisions based on protected characteristics. The practical effect is that questions designed to elicit information about those characteristics — directly or indirectly — create real legal risk.

The federal floor includes, at a high level, prohibitions on questions designed to elicit information about:

• Race, color, national origin, ancestry
• Sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity)
• Religion
• Age (40 and over, under the ADEA)
• Disability (with a narrow exception for asking about ability to perform specific job functions)
• Genetic information (under GINA)

The rule is not literally “you may not say the word.” It is “you may not make employment decisions based on these characteristics, and the safer course in interviews is not to ask questions that elicit them.”

Colorado layer: the Job Application Fairness Act

In 2023 Colorado enacted the Job Application Fairness Act, which prohibits employers from asking about an applicant’s age, date of birth, or graduation dates on initial employment applications. The law also restricts employers from requesting that applicants provide additional documentation that would reveal age before a conditional offer of employment is made.

The practical effect: standard application templates that ask for graduation year, date of birth, or “year completed high school” need to be revised for Colorado applicants. Employers can still verify age after a conditional offer, where age is a legitimate qualification (e.g., serving alcohol).

Colorado layer: the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

The Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (and its Ensure Equal Pay for Equal Work amendments) does several things relevant to interviews:

1. Prohibits asking about salary history. An employer in Colorado may not seek the wage-rate history of an applicant or rely on the wage-rate history of an applicant to determine a wage rate. This rule applies to interviews, applications, and background investigations.
2. Requires disclosure of compensation in job postings. Employers must include the hourly or salary compensation (or a range), a general description of any bonuses or other compensation, and a general description of benefits in every job posting for positions performed in Colorado or that could be performed in Colorado.
3. Requires posting promotional opportunities. Internal promotional opportunities must generally be made known to all current employees on the same day the position is announced — unless a narrow exception applies.
4. Requires post-selection notice. When a position is filled, certain notice obligations apply about who was selected and for what compensation.

The salary-history prohibition is the rule that most directly affects interview practice. The historical question “what is your current salary?” — once standard in many interviews — is no longer permissible in Colorado. The current-best-practice question is “what is your compensation expectation for this role?” — which puts the focus on the future role rather than past compensation.

Colorado layer: the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act

CADA mirrors much of Title VII but extends to additional protected categories beyond federal law, including marital status and (in employment matters) lawful off-duty conduct. Colorado employers have to be careful about questions that touch on:

• Marital and family status (spouse, children, plans to have children)
• Whether the applicant smokes, uses cannabis, or engages in other lawful off-duty activities
• The applicant’s sexual orientation or gender identity (which CADA explicitly protects)

The “lawful off-duty conduct” rule is a meaningful one and surprises some out-of-state employers. Asking about cannabis use — which is legal recreationally in Colorado — is risky in a way it would not be in some other states.

Areas that get employers in trouble most often

Three categories generate most of the close-call interview questions our office sees.

Family and caregiving questions

“Are you married?” “Do you have children?” “Are you planning to start a family?” These are not, on their face, illegal questions in many states — but they are questions that can lead to inferences of discriminatory intent, and they have no legitimate business purpose at the interview stage. The best practice is simply not to ask them. If you need to know whether the applicant can travel, can work specific hours, or can meet specific job requirements, ask about the job requirement: “This role requires regular weekend coverage. Are you able to meet that schedule?”

Health and disability questions

The ADA permits questions about whether an applicant can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation. It does not permit questions about disability status, prior workers’ compensation claims, prior medical leave, or specific medical conditions. The most reliable rule: ask about ability to do the job, not about health.

Criminal history

Colorado has a “ban the box” rule for employers, which prohibits inquiries into criminal history on initial applications. After the conditional-offer stage, criminal-history inquiries are permitted, subject to certain limits and the EEOC’s guidance on the use of criminal history in employment decisions. Different cities (notably Denver and Boulder) have additional local rules.

What employers can and should ask

The rules look like a long list of don’ts, but the affirmative interview framework is straightforward and largely unchanged. Employers can ask:

• About the applicant’s experience — prior roles, responsibilities, accomplishments, how they handled specific situations.
• About the applicant’s qualifications — education (subject to the JAFA limits on graduation dates), licenses, certifications, language proficiency where job-relevant.
• About ability to perform the role — essential functions, scheduling availability, travel availability, willingness to meet stated requirements.
• About work authorization — eligibility to work in the United States (the I-9 framework).
• About interest in the role — what attracts them, what they are looking for, what they understand the role to be.
• About expectations — compensation expectations for the role (not history), start date availability.
• About behavioral and situational scenarios — “Tell me about a time when…” questions are well-supported and legally low-risk.

The interview is for evaluating fit and capability for the job. Questions tied to that evaluation are almost always defensible. Questions that drift into personal territory are where risk lives.

What applicants can do

Applicants who feel that an interview question crossed a line have several options.

In the moment, the cleanest response is often to redirect to the job: “I’d like to focus on what I can offer for this role.” Applicants are not obligated to answer questions the law does not require them to answer, and they are not obligated to refuse them either; the choice is theirs.

After the interview, applicants who believe a question — or a denial — was discriminatory may file a charge with the Colorado Civil Rights Division or the federal EEOC. The deadlines are short: 300 days for a federal Title VII charge, similar deadlines under CADA. Filing a charge is a prerequisite to certain federal lawsuits.

For salary-history violations, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment receives complaints under the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. Penalties are real, including statutory civil penalties payable to the agency.

Common myths

A few things we hear that aren’t quite right.

“It’s fine to ask about salary history if the candidate volunteers it.” Not in Colorado. The statute prohibits the employer from seeking the history; it also restricts the employer from relying on it in setting compensation. An applicant’s volunteered disclosure does not flip those restrictions.

“If the job posting includes a range, we can hire below the range if the candidate accepts.” Not generally. The statutory framework is built around the disclosed range; deviating below it raises issues.

“We can ask about disability if we offer to make accommodations.” No. Pre-offer disability inquiries are restricted under the ADA regardless of intent. Post-offer, employers may make medical inquiries that are job-related and consistent with business necessity.

“Questions about criminal history are fine if the role involves working with money.” Some criminal-history inquiries are permitted at the appropriate stage of the process, and Colorado law has industry-specific carve-outs. But a blanket “we always ask because it’s a money job” approach is exposed.

Where employers go from here

For employers operating in Colorado, the practical steps are:

1. Audit job postings. Every Colorado-applicable posting should include compensation and benefits disclosure as the statute requires.
2. Audit application templates. Remove or move any age-revealing questions; remove salary-history questions; ensure ban-the-box compliance.
3. Train interviewers. The interview framework above is straightforward to teach in a one-hour session and significantly reduces risk.
4. Document interviews. Notes that capture the legitimate, job-related rationale for hiring decisions are the strongest single defense against discrimination claims.
5. Build a review process for offers. Salary determinations should be defensible without reliance on prohibited factors.

Employers who get the framework right find that compliance is largely a matter of practice rather than significant cost. The cost is in not getting it right — in the form of agency complaints, lawsuits, reputational harm, and the loss of qualified candidates who are paying attention.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.