Update Applicable to:

All Denver employers

What happened?

On January 9, 2023, the Denver City Council passed the Civil Wage Theft Ordinance (Ordinance 22-1614) which created new procedures and penalties regarding civil wage theft.

On March 13, 2023, the Denver Auditor’s Office adopted “Civil Wage Theft Rules,” which became effective on the date of adoption.

What are the details?

The Ordinance, among other things, increased the civil penalties for wage theft violations in the city, and the civil wage theft rules address numerous issues regarding wage theft, including the examples provided below:

• Employers must provide all workers covered by the Denver Minimum Wage Ordinance or Civil Wage Theft Ordinance with the wage theft notice detailing the Denver minimum wage, that wage theft is a crime, that workers are entitled to civil recovery of unpaid wages, and that complaints alleging wage theft may be submitted to the Auditor’s Office.

• Employers must post the wage notice in an area easily accessible to their workers, or otherwise share it in any manner reasonably calculated to provide the notice. Employers may satisfy this posting requirement by any method that will provide workers with ready access to the wage notice. This could include, but is not limited to, posting the notice in a physically convenient location; providing it directly to each worker; or sharing it electronically.

For more information, please see the links below:

Ordinance 22-1614 (PDF Download)

Ordinance Page

Wage Theft Notice/Poster

Civil Wage Theft Rules 2023

What do employers need to do?

Employers subject to the Denver Ordinance 22-1614 should post or distribute the required Wage Notice, review the civil wage theft rules and make any necessary changes to their current practices, if required.

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