Colorado has added a requirement that job postings must include a salary range, so as to minimize wage disparities between white men and everyone else.
In response, companies have begun posting job openings specifically excluding Colorado, because they can keep wages lower if the applicants do not know what they are willing to pay.
The solution to this is not to revoke the Colorado statute, but to make it universal:
DigitalOcean is looking to hire a front-end software engineer who, if working remotely, is free to live anywhere in America, Canada, Germany, or Netherlands, but not in Colorado.
The US state in 2019 approved the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and then formulated rules to apply the law [PDF], which went into effect on January 1, 2021. The statute requires, among other things, that companies posting job listings for in-state or remote positions include a salary amount or salary range. The intended purpose of the regulation is to prevent pay disparities.
DigitalOcean, which advertises about how it supports “a diverse and inclusive workplace,” does not explain specifically why it won’t consider hiring Colorado residents for remote positions, but its now-changed help wanted ad does make clear that Colorado is to blame.
“This position may be done in NYC or Remote (but not in CO due to local CO job posting requirements),” the online post said.
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Many other firms have included similar language in their job ads.
Alcohol e-commerce platform Drizly is also looking for a remote Senior Software Engineer, anywhere except Colorado. “Please note: this role can be performed remotely anywhere in the United States with the exception of Colorado,” its job listing explains.
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In a post last November to legal website JD Supra, Littler Mendelson PC attorneys Jennifer Harpole and Joshua Kirkpatrick, wrote that an exemption to the compensation inclusion requirement “makes it even more likely that multi-state employers with remote jobs will exclude Colorado workers from consideration…”
Make it a national requirement. Problem solved.