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A bunch of employers like Lime Bike, Nike, Johnson & Johnson, Twitter, Oracle & others are facing a twitterstorm over using “except in Colorado” language in their job postings.
For example, here’s Lime’s job posting language being called out in a tweet:
The reason?
Colorado’s new Equal Pay Act requires companies to list salary and benefits info in job descriptions for jobs performed in the state. A supporter of the new law, Colorado State Senator Jessie Danielson said:
“It looks to me like these companies are intentionally excluding potential employees right here in the state where we still need these jobs because they don’t want to have to post their salary information…It’s just wrong.”
source: 9News
The new rules went into effect in January 2021 to help remove pay inequality. And, more than 30 companies are using JD language that specifically excludes candidates living in Colorado.
Here are a few more Twitter users are chiming in on the issue:
Nike has taken down the job posting below, but before they did, the phrase “remote work – except in Colorado” was just after the job title:
This Reddit post about the language used by DigitalOcean has over 530 comments mostly against employers excluding Coloradans from remote roles based on the new Equal Pay Act:
Here are 25 other examples of language companies are using that exclude candidates from Colorado remote jobs:
- This is a remote job except that it is not eligible to be performed in Colorado. (Airbnb)
- This role is remote eligible. We are hiring in all states except CO. (Betterment)
- This position may be performed remotely anywhere within the United States except the State of Colorado. (CBRE)
- United States Remote: This is a remote-based opportunity that may be performed anywhere in the United States except for within the state of Colorado. (Chegg)
- This job cannot be performed in the state of Colorado. (Chime)
- This position is not eligible to be performed in Colorado. (Cigna)
- Please Note: Job cannot be performed in the state of Colorado, USA. (Concentrix)
- We could support remote work in most states except CO. (Contrast Security)
- This position can be performed anywhere except Colorado. (Digital Media Solutions & Realogy)
- This position can be remote from anywhere in the Continental U.S. (excluding Colorado). (DNV)
- Please note: this role can be performed remotely anywhere in the United States with the exception of Colorado. (Drizly)
- Please note that the job can be performed anywhere where Eventbrite has an entity except Colorado. (Eventbrite)
- This position will be Virtual, except for within the state of Colorado. (Hilton)
- Work location is flexible if approved by the Company except that the position may not be performed in Colorado. (Johnson & Johnson)
- This job cannot be performed within Colorado (Lime)
- Work from Home (Excluding Colorado) (Lincoln Financial)
- This job is not eligible for remote working from Colorado (Marsh McLennan)
- Note: this position cannot be performed in the state of Colorado (MultiPlan)
- *** OPEN TO REMOTE WORK – EXCEPT IN COLORADO *** (Onna)
- This role can be performed anywhere except the state of Colorado. (PeopleScout)
- from any state except Colorado (Stride)
- Note: This position is open to fully remote candidates and may be performed anywhere in the United States, except for in the state of Colorado.) (The Knot Worldwide)
- We welcome applicants who are also open to working remote, except Colorado. (Trimble)
- Roles listing ‘Remote US’ as a location are not currently available in the following states: Colorado, Iowa, and Louisiana. (Twitter)
- This job cannot be performed in Colorado. (University of Phoenix)
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) is fielding more than 60 complaints about the matter, and 48 are still pending a decision.
“Of the 20 with a decision, 13 were dismissed for either not having enough details, or the company was actually found to be compliant. 7 received violations. Four were fixed promptly, and three are still awaiting a response from the company.”
source: 9News
What should you (a TA/HR leader) do?
If you’re posting remote-friendly jobs and want to include Colorado candidates, you might consider 2 options. The first is to include the salary range for the job. It’s been proven that candidates value hearing about salary in job postings. If you can’t yet include salary in your Colorado job postings, you might consider doing what RapidSOS did and at least acknowledge the new Colorado law with a note about how “you’re working on it.”
RapidSOS uses “except Colorado” language in this job posting, but they are one of the few companies I found who mentions the new regulations in their job ad:
Many companies have already removed or filled the job openings that were first reported to have language excluding Coloradans.
Do your job postings have “except in Colorado” language? You might want to have a look to avoid any complaints like the co.’s above. Ongig’s Text Analyzer flags language that excludes remote jobs in Colorado to help make sure you are in compliance.
And, if you want to learn more about the new regulations, check out our blog Colorado’s Equal Pay Act [7 Examples of New Language in Job Postings].
Why I Wrote This?
Ongig’s Text Analyzer software helps eliminate bias from your job postings, and it can also flag phrases that might exclude people looking for remote work in Colorado. Wouldn’t you prefer to find the best candidates and be compliant with new regulations too!?
Shout-Outs:
- Companies post jobs where you can work anywhere – except for Colorado (by Zack Newman, Marshall Zelinger)
- Why Corporations Won’t Hire Remote Workers in Colorado (by Edward Ongweso Jr)
- Coloradoexcluded.com
- *(But Not In Colorado) (by r/Denver)
- Help wanted, work from anywhere … except if you’re located in Colorado (by Thomas Claburn)
