Colorado Civil Rights Division outlines protections under state anti‑discrimination law and filing deadlines

The Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD) in an online presentation summarized protections under the Colorado Anti‑Discrimination Act (CADA) across employment, housing and places of public accommodation and explained how to file a complaint with the agency.

The video matters because CADA defines who is protected from discrimination in Colorado and establishes the timelines and procedures CCRD uses to decide whether it can investigate allegations. The CCRD also outlined differences among enforcement areas and practical steps for filing a charge.

In employment, CCRD said employers may not discriminate against applicants or employees on the basis of protected class. The presentation listed protected characteristics that CADA covers in employment, including disability (a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits a major life activity); race (explicitly noting hair texture, hair type, hair length and protective hairstyles commonly associated with race, such as braids, locks, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, Bantu knots, Afros and head wraps); color; religion or creed; sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression; age (40 and older); national origin or ancestry; marital status; and pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. The presentation said examples of prohibited employment practices include refusal to hire, discharge, refusal to promote, demotion, harassment, unequal compensation (including matters covered by the Wage Transparency Act) and retaliation for engaging in protected activity.

For housing, CCRD said fair‑housing protections apply not only to landlords but also to real estate brokers, mortgage lenders, homeowner associations and others involved in housing transactions. CCRD identified the usual protected classes (disability, race, color, religion or creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, ancestry and marital status) and highlighted housing‑specific protections: familial status (children under 18 in the household and people who are pregnant or seeking custody of a child), source of income (when landlords or property owners refuse to rent based on the lawful source of income) and veteran or military status. CCRD listed examples of prohibited housing practices such as refusing to rent or sell, applying unequal terms or conditions, refusing reasonable accommodations or modifications for disability, steering, redlining, discriminatory advertising, misrepresenting availability and retaliation.

Places of public accommodation were defined in the presentation as facilities open to and serving the public — restaurants, hotels, shops, public transit and medical facilities were given as examples. The division said those places may not deny or withhold the full and equal enjoyment of goods, services, facilities, privileges or advantages on the basis of a protected class and may not publish or display discriminatory advertisements.

The CCRD presentation also stressed that people who engage in protected activity — for example, filing a complaint or requesting a reasonable accommodation — are protected from retaliation across all three enforcement areas.

The video summarized CCRD’s intake and filing process. Intake specialists first determine whether an employer, housing provider or venue is covered by CADA and whether the allegations allege discrimination based on a protected class. Filing deadlines differ by enforcement area: employment complaints must be filed within 300 days of the alleged act; housing complaints within one year of the alleged adverse action; and public‑accommodation complaints within 60 days of the alleged discrimination. CCRD noted that the filing date is the date a signed charge is received by the division. After an intake interview, an intake specialist drafts a proposed charge and forwards it to the potential complainant for review and signature; the investigation process begins when the signed charge is received.

For more information the CCRD directed viewers to its online complaint process and provided contact details for the Department of Regulatory Agencies’ Civil Rights Division, including the CCRD website and a phone number and email for intake inquiries.

The presentation did not report any formal votes or policy changes; it served as an informational overview of rights, prohibited practices and CCRD’s complaint procedures.