Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in Colorado
Reviewed by DocDraft Legal Team - Colorado - Last updated September 15, 2026
Colorado is the rare state where the substance of harassment law, not the calendar, is the reason to read a state page. C.R.S. Section 24-34-400.2(2) records that the general assembly finds the severe or pervasive standard created by courts does not take into account the realities of the workplace or the harm that workplace harassment causes, and that it rejects the severe or pervasive standard for proof of workplace harassment in favor of a standard that prohibits unwelcome harassment. Section 24-34-402(1.3) then supplies the replacement test. Conduct or communication is harassment where it is unwelcome, directed at an individual or group because of protected class membership or perceived membership, subjectively offensive to the person alleging it, and objectively offensive to a reasonable individual who is a member of the same protected class. That last phrase does real work, because the comparator is a reasonable member of your own protected class rather than a generic reasonable person. There is a hard date attached. The Editor's note printed under Sections 24-34-400.2, 24-34-402 and 24-34-408 states that section 7(2) of chapter 389, Senate Bill 23-172, applies to employment practices occurring on or after August 7, 2023. Conduct before that date is not governed by the new standard. On procedure Colorado is conventional. Section 24-34-306(14) bars a civil action in a Colorado district court on a practice prohibited by part 4 without first exhausting the proceedings and remedies available through the Colorado Civil Rights Division. Section 24-34-403 requires a charge to be filed within three hundred days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred and says that if a charge is not timely filed, it is barred. That 300 day figure comes from House Bill 22-1367, chapter 473, effective August 10, 2022, not from the later harassment act, and it is the same period the EEOC allows in a deferral state, so your state and federal clocks run together rather than months apart. Coverage is the easy part here. Section 24-34-401(3) defines an employer as the state of Colorado or any political subdivision, commission, department, institution or school district of it, and every other person employing persons within the state. There is no employee minimum in that definition at all, so a worker at a two person Colorado company is covered by state law where federal Title VII, which needs fifteen employees, would not reach the employer. If your situation involves assault, threats or stalking, contact emergency services and speak with an attorney.
Find out where you stand in Colorado
Where are you with the harassment complaint?
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How long do I have to file a workplace harassment complaint in Colorado?
Three hundred days. C.R.S. Section 24-34-403 requires a charge alleging a violation of part 4 to be filed within three hundred days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred, and it states that if a charge is not timely filed, it is barred. The current text of that section came from House Bill 22-1367, chapter 473, effective August 10, 2022. Because three hundred days is also the extended federal charge period available where a state agency enforces a law prohibiting the same discrimination, your Colorado and EEOC deadlines run together rather than separately.
Do I have to file with a state agency before I can sue for harassment in Colorado?
Yes. Section 24-34-306(14) provides that no person may file a civil action in a district court in this state based on an alleged discriminatory or unfair practice prohibited by parts 4, 5 and 7 without first exhausting the proceedings and remedies available under part 3. The one exception in the subsection is narrow: a person must show by clear and convincing evidence, in an action already filed in district court, that ill health of such a nature that pursuing administrative remedies would not provide timely and reasonable relief would cause irreparable harm. File the charge with the Colorado Civil Rights Division and treat that as the required first step.
Does harassment have to be severe or pervasive in Colorado?
No, and Colorado said so in the statute itself. Section 24-34-400.2(2) records that the general assembly finds the severe or pervasive standard created by courts does not take into account the realities of the workplace or the harm that workplace harassment causes, and that it rejects that standard in favor of one prohibiting unwelcome harassment. Section 24-34-402(1.3) states expressly that the conduct or communication need not be severe or pervasive. Section 24-34-402(1.3)(c)(II)(A) also directs that frequency be weighed while recognizing that a single incident may rise to the level of harassment.
The Colorado legislature wrote into the statute books that it rejects the severe or pervasive test, and that single sentence changes what a worker here has to prove.
Colorado is the state whose legislature said the quiet part in the statute. Section 24-34-400.2(2)(b) provides that the general assembly rejects the severe or pervasive standard for proof of workplace harassment in favor of a standard that prohibits unwelcome harassment. Section 24-34-402(1.3) replaces it with a test that asks whether unwelcome physical or verbal conduct, or written, pictorial or visual communication, was directed at you because of your protected class, was subjectively offensive to you, and was objectively offensive to a reasonable individual who is a member of the same protected class. The objective half is measured against a reasonable member of your own class, which most summaries of Colorado law leave out.
Relevant Laws
C.R.S. Section 24-34-403: 300 Days to File a Colorado Civil Rights Division Charge
A charge alleging a violation of part 4 must be filed within three hundred days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice occurred, and an untimely charge is barred. The current text comes from House Bill 22-1367, chapter 473, effective August 10, 2022.
C.R.S. Section 24-34-400.2(2)(b): Colorado Rejects the Severe or Pervasive Standard
The general assembly declared that it rejects the severe or pervasive standard for proof of workplace harassment in favor of a standard that prohibits unwelcome harassment. The declaration sits in the statute, not in case law.
C.R.S. Section 24-34-402(1.3): The Statutory Test for Harassment
Harassment is unwelcome conduct or written, pictorial or visual communication directed at a person because of protected class membership that is subjectively offensive to that person and objectively offensive to a reasonable individual who is a member of the same protected class. It need not be severe or pervasive.
Senate Bill 23-172 Section 7(2): The Standard Applies to Practices on or After August 7, 2023
The Editor's note under Sections 24-34-400.2, 24-34-402 and 24-34-408 records that chapter 389 applies to employment practices occurring on or after August 7, 2023. Check your incident dates against that line before relying on the standard.
C.R.S. Section 24-34-401(3): No Employee Minimum in the Colorado Employer Definition
Employer means the state of Colorado or any political subdivision, commission, department, institution or school district of it, and every other person employing persons within the state. The definition excludes religious organizations except those supported in whole or in part by taxation or public borrowing.
Regional Variances
How Colorado differs
That standard comes with an applicability date, and it
That standard comes with an applicability date, and it is the first thing to check against your own timeline. The Editor's note printed under Sections 24-34-400.2, 24-34-402 and 24-34-408 states that section 7(2) of chapter 389, Senate Bill 23-172, Session Laws of Colorado 2023, provides that the act applies to employment practices occurring on or after August 7, 2023. Practices occurring before that date fall outside it. How the date is applied to harassment that started before it and continued afterward is a question to put to a Colorado employment lawyer rather than to guess at.
Colorado requires the agency step before court. Section 24-34-306(14)
Colorado requires the agency step before court. Section 24-34-306(14) provides that no person may file a civil action in a district court in this state based on an alleged discriminatory or unfair practice prohibited by parts 4, 5 and 7 without first exhausting the proceedings and remedies available under part 3. The only exception written into the subsection is an extremely narrow one for ill health of such a nature that pursuing administrative remedies would not provide timely and reasonable relief and would cause irreparable harm, proved by clear and convincing evidence. Treat the division charge as mandatory.
The Colorado charge deadline is three hundred days after
The Colorado charge deadline is three hundred days after the practice occurred. Section 24-34-403 says a charge must be filed within that period and that if a charge is not timely filed, it is barred. The current text came from House Bill 22-1367, chapter 473, effective August 10, 2022. Three hundred days is exactly the extended EEOC period available in a state with its own enforcement agency, so in Colorado the state and federal clocks close on the same schedule instead of staggering.
Suggested Compliance Checklist
C.R.S. Section 24-34-306(15): Request the Notice of Right to Sue in Writing
See your deadline days after startingThe request must be in writing and must be made before service of a notice and complaint. The division shall promptly grant a request made after one hundred eighty days from the filing of the charge, and the notice constitutes final agency action and exhaustion.
C.R.S. Section 24-34-306(2)(b)(I): Ten Days to Appeal a Dismissal, Ninety Days to Sue
See your deadline days after startingAn appeal of a no probable cause dismissal goes to the commission within ten days after the dismissal notice is mailed. A civil action must be filed within ninety days after that mailing if no appeal is taken, or within ninety days after the mailing of notice that the commission dismissed the appeal.
C.R.S. Section 24-34-402(1.5)(a): The Employer Defense Requires a Communicated Program
See your deadline days after startingAn employer may raise the supervisor harassment defense only if it establishes a program reasonably designed to prevent harassment, that it communicated the program's existence and details to supervisory and nonsupervisory employees, and that the employee unreasonably failed to use it.
C.R.S. Section 24-34-408: Five Year Records and a Repository of Every Complaint
See your deadline days after startingEmployers must preserve personnel and employment records for at least five years and maintain a designated repository of all written or oral complaints of discriminatory or unfair employment practices, with dates, identities and substance. Records of training provided to employees are included.
| Task | Description | Document | Days after starting |
|---|---|---|---|
| C.R.S. Section 24-34-306(15): Request the Notice of Right to Sue in Writing | The request must be in writing and must be made before service of a notice and complaint. The division shall promptly grant a request made after one hundred eighty days from the filing of the charge, and the notice constitutes final agency action and exhaustion. | - | See your deadline |
| C.R.S. Section 24-34-306(2)(b)(I): Ten Days to Appeal a Dismissal, Ninety Days to Sue | An appeal of a no probable cause dismissal goes to the commission within ten days after the dismissal notice is mailed. A civil action must be filed within ninety days after that mailing if no appeal is taken, or within ninety days after the mailing of notice that the commission dismissed the appeal. | - | See your deadline |
| C.R.S. Section 24-34-402(1.5)(a): The Employer Defense Requires a Communicated Program | An employer may raise the supervisor harassment defense only if it establishes a program reasonably designed to prevent harassment, that it communicated the program's existence and details to supervisory and nonsupervisory employees, and that the employee unreasonably failed to use it. | - | See your deadline |
| C.R.S. Section 24-34-408: Five Year Records and a Repository of Every Complaint | Employers must preserve personnel and employment records for at least five years and maintain a designated repository of all written or oral complaints of discriminatory or unfair employment practices, with dates, identities and substance. Records of training provided to employees are included. | - | See your deadline |
Frequently Asked Questions
Not on its own terms. The Editor's note printed under Sections 24-34-400.2, 24-34-402 and 24-34-408 records that section 7(2) of chapter 389, Senate Bill 23-172, Session Laws of Colorado 2023, provides that the act applies to employment practices occurring on or after August 7, 2023. Practices occurring before that date are outside it. If your harassment began before that date and continued after it, how the line is drawn on your facts is exactly the sort of question to take to a Colorado employment lawyer, and it is worth doing early rather than near the deadline.
Colorado sets no employee minimum. Section 24-34-401(3) defines employer as the state of Colorado or any political subdivision, commission, department, institution or school district of it, and every other person employing persons within the state, with no number and no calendar weeks requirement. A worker at a two person Colorado company therefore has a state claim where federal Title VII, which requires fifteen employees, would not reach the employer at all. Size is not irrelevant to value, because Section 24-34-405(3)(d) scales the cap on compensatory and punitive damages by headcount, but it does not decide eligibility.
Ask for it in writing. Section 24-34-306(15) allows a charging party to request a written notice of right to sue at any time before service of a notice and complaint, requires the request to be in writing, and provides that the division shall promptly grant a request made after the expiration of one hundred eighty days following the filing of the charge. Before day one hundred eighty the division grants the request on a determination that the investigation will not be completed within that period. The notice constitutes final agency action and exhaustion of administrative remedies, and a civil action must follow within ninety days.
There are two and they interact. Section 24-34-306(2)(b)(I) requires the division to advise you both of the right to file an appeal of the dismissal with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission within ten days after the date the notification of dismissal is mailed, and that a civil action must be filed within ninety days after the date that notice is mailed if you do not appeal, or within ninety days after the date the notice that the commission dismissed the appeal is mailed if you do. Both clocks run from mailing, not from when you read the letter. If you do not appeal within the ten days, the ninety days is already running.
It should have been recorded. Section 24-34-408(2)(a) requires an employer to maintain an accurate designated repository of all written or oral complaints of discriminatory or unfair employment practices, including the date of the complaint, the identity of the complaining party where the complaint was not made anonymously, the identity of the alleged perpetrator, and the substance of the complaint. Section 24-34-408 also requires personnel and employment records to be preserved for at least five years. Put anything further in writing and keep a dated copy, but a verbal report is not the dead end it is often assumed to be.
Often yes. Section 24-34-407 makes a nondisclosure provision that limits an employee's ability to disclose or discuss an alleged discriminatory or unfair employment practice void unless it applies equally to all parties and expressly preserves the employee's right to disclose the underlying facts to immediate family, a religious advisor, a medical or mental health provider, a therapeutic support group, legal counsel, a financial advisor or a tax preparer, to any local, state or federal government agency for any reason including the existence and terms of a settlement and without first notifying the employer, and in response to legal process. Have a Colorado lawyer read your actual agreement against that list before you rely on it.
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