Update on the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

On Jan. 1, 2021, the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act went into effect. The law is intended to increase pay equity and transparency. The law is a forward-looking step by the State of Colorado that requires all employers to post vacant job openings with salary ranges, and to regularly examine pay levels and practices for inequities. The CU Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus central HR office is partnering with the schools and colleges, and the CU system office, to work through all of the details to ensure we are compliant with the new legislation. Extraordinary progress has been made in this regard, and our school and college HR partners are to be applauded for the work that has been completed to-date.

CU Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus is committed to an inclusive and equitable workplace that employs best practices in compensation. Our schools, colleges and units have been using good pay practices, with salary range structures, market analysis methodologies and regular reviews that include sex/gender and race/ethnicity comparisons. We take the law and this issue seriously, and are committed to further strengthening these good practices. To this end, during 2020 we proactively worked with a third party to engage in a pay equity study to examine salaries and positions to ensure a holistic and objective review. Of the 12,230 positions reviewed in the study, fewer than 3% were flagged as outliers, which speaks to the work we have already done and informs us on next steps. This is an ongoing process that will require continual review, but we are well on our way.

Employees should understand that the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and our corresponding equity study will not result in widespread salary changes, revised job titles or working titles, or reduce pay or eliminate jobs. We are hard at work analyzing results and expect that adjustments that need to be made as a result of the study will become effective in fiscal year 2021-22.

We are in the process of meeting with various campus groups and unit leaders to examine pay discrepancies that merit review. If you have a question related to the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act or the equity study, we ask you to start with the HR business partner in your school, college or unit.