Colorado Sexual Harassment Training Requirements

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission recommends that employers “take all steps necessary to prevent discrimination, including harassment, from occurring, such as … training.” See 3 CCR 708-1, Rule 20.6. See also Civil Rights Division Questions (recommending practices to “avoid a complaint of discrimination, including but not limited to, periodic civil rights protections and responsibilities training…”).

Additionally, EEOC guidelines and court decisions from around the country have made clear that employers should provide workplace harassment training to all employees periodically. The training should cover not just sexual harassment, but all forms of unlawful harassment related to federal and state protected characteristics.

The Colorado Fair Employment Practices Act prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of protected characteristics such as age (40+), ancestry, color, creed, disability, gender identity or expression, marriage to a coworker in certain circumstances, national origin, race (including hair texture, hair type, or a protective hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race, such as braids, locs, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, Bantu knots, Afros, and headwraps), religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions), and sexual orientation.

Local ordinances provide broader protections, so you should check the local Civil Rights Commission regulations applicable to your workplace.

For more information on Colorado equal employment opportunity requirements, see Colorado DRA Civil Rights Division, Discrimination.