Colorado Criminal Records Search

Colorado’s ban the box law is not the only regulation that prohibits the use of expunged or sealed criminal records for employment purposes. There is also a state law on the books that restricts all employers, public and private, from considering expunged or sealed records during hiring. It doesn’t matter whether these records pertain to convictions or arrests.

Most employers in Colorado are not technically barred from considering arrest records in hiring decisions. While the state ban the box law prohibits state agencies from using arrest history information, there is no equivalent law for private employers. However, the Colorado Civil Rights Division has released guidelines for employers, which strongly discourage employers from inquiring about arrest records.

Colorado HB 1025
Prohibits state agencies and licensing agencies from performing a background check until the agency determines that the applicant is a finalist for the position or the applicant receives a conditional offer. In determining whether a conviction disqualifies an applicant from employment or licensing, the agency must consider (1) the nature of the conviction; (2) the direct relationship of the conviction to the job; (3) rehabilitation and good conduct; and (4) the time elapsed since the conviction. The law further prevents agencies from using arrests not leading to a conviction in deciding whether to deny or withdraw an offer. An agency may not disqualify an applicant based on an expunged, sealed, or pardoned conviction or charges dismissed pursuant to a deferred judgment unless the agency first considers the four factors listed above. This law does not apply when a statute bars licensing based on convictions nor to certain public safety or correction-related jobs. With some exceptions, the law prohibits agencies from issuing job advertisements that include blanket bans stating that a person with a criminal record may not apply.
The new law (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-2-130) applies to most jobs with private employers, except for positions for which the employer is prohibited by law from hiring someone with a specific conviction history or required by law to conduct a background check as well as positions designated by the employer as participating in a government program to encourage the employment of people with records. The new law bars employers from stating in a job advertisement or on an application form that a person with a record may not apply as well as from inquiring into or requiring disclosure of an applicant’s record on an initial application. An employer may, however, obtain a “publicly available criminal background report” at any time. Enforcement of the law is delegated to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, which may receive and investigate complaints, issue regulations, and impose civil penalties. Complaints must be received within one year from the alleged violation, and the allowable civil penalties increase for subsequent violations. The law takes full effect on a staggered schedule, requiring employers with eleven or more employees to ban the box beginning September 1, 2019 and all other employers to do so starting September 1, 2021.
Denver
The executive order applies to city

• Background check after a conditional offer of employment
• Incorporates EEOC criteria in individualized assessment

On July 25, 2016, the mayor amended Executive Order No. 135 “The Use of Background Checks in Hiring and Employment Decisions,” adding Section 3.1.1, which prohibits conviction history inquiries until the applicant has been extended a conditional offer of employment (with certain exceptions). Even before the July 2016 update, Sections 3.1.7 and 3.1.8 of Executive Order No. 135 already limited agency consideration of arrests and required agencies to consider (i) the nature of the conviction, (ii) existence of a “strong correlation” between the conviction and job sought, (iii) the number of convictions, (iv) the recentness of convictions, and (v) any evidence of rehabilitation.

Source: National Employment Law Project