Coloradans no longer excluded from job listings after Department of Labor cracks down

The Colorado Department of Labor says it has put an end to job postings that blacklist Coloradans. The companies were trying to circumvent a new law that requires all job postings include a salary range or hourly rate.

"I literally hired a temp (worker) to scour the internet to find these listings," said Scott Moss with the Department. "We found at the peak 900 to 1,000 postings." 

Moss says he sent letters to more than 100 companies, warning them that if they had any presence in Colorado at all, they needed to comply with the law in all job postings or face fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

"We saw number postings excluding Coloradans vanish." 

Meanwhile, the average hourly wage has increased more than 11% in Colorado since the law took effect, while its gone up only 7% nationwide.

 "I think in tight labor market employers are sometimes surprised they're paying less than their competitors," said Moss. "I think it benefits everyone to see what the market can bare."

Allison Moore, an employment law attorney with Denver's Jackson Kelly Law Firm, says some employers would disagree.

"It makes it easier for employees to job hop and cost of onboard employees. I get calls on regular basis what exact parameters what have post to be compliant least amount information provide when provide it."

As wages have increased, so too have prices. Moore says it's too early to tell if the law will help more than hurt. For many companies, she says, salaries are the biggest cost of doing business.

"(The law) is super nuanced so we don't really know where it's going to go. I would say a lot of states are also implementing similar things and they're trying to attack a very complicated problem with discrimination and pay. This is just one approach to attempting to solve the problem, and we'll have to see how effective it is." 

The law allows companies to make exceptions to the salary range posted in several circumstances. So far, only three companies have been fined between $2,000 - $34,000.