As anticipated, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) issued an Interpretive & Formal Opinion (INFO) – “Transparency in Pay and Opportunities for Promotion and Advancement”.  While the INFO is helpful in some respects, CDLE continues to take a hardline on the definition of “promotional opportunity”.

We continue to digest the guidance but the highlights include clarifying that a “promotional opportunity” exists “when an employer has or anticipates a vacancy in an existing or new position that could be considered a promotion for one or more employee(s) in terms of compensation, benefits, status, duties, or access to further advancement.”

Further to this point, the INFO states that:

• A vacancy in a new position exists when an employer:

(1) adds a position; or

(2) gives an existing employee a new position, including by changing their title, and/or materially changing their authority, duties, or opportunities.

• A vacancy in a new position includes a lateral job change, or a promotion along a fixed, in-line career trajectory, for which a current employee is eligible.

Based on the following CDLE example, it is difficult to imagine an instance not covered by the Rules:

An employer automatically advances every Apprentice 1 to an Apprentice 2 when the employee passes a competency test. An Apprentice 2 has more advanced duties, higher pay, and access to future promotions unavailable to an Apprentice 1. This advancement is a promotion to a new position because the employer is creating an Apprentice 2 position each time it advances an Apprentice 1. However, if the promotion is promised in writing upon hiring in conformity with EPT Rule 4.2.5(B) , it may be exempt from the duty to provide notice of the promotional opportunity to other employees.

The INFO further confirms that while multi-state employers need not include compensation or benefits in notices to Colorado employees for positions outside of Colorado, it must notify Colorado employees of such promotional opportunities.