The Job Application Fairness Act (JAFA), which took effect on July 1, 2024, is a Colorado law designed to curb age discrimination by prohibiting employers from asking for age-related details on initial employment applications, promoting the standard of fostering fair hiring practices.

While JAFA promotes inclusive recruiting, it presents a new set of hurdles for University Recruiting teams. By removing graduation dates and academic timelines from initial job applications, the law challenges how UR professionals gauge candidates’ progress toward degree completion, which is often needed for aligning recruitment strategies with graduation cycles.

Who’s Impacted: Defining Early Career Recruiting

Even prior to the enactment of JAFA, University Recruiting teams have been taking steps to make their programs more inclusive of a range of emerging talent. We recently surveyed top University Recruiting leaders across 24+ industries and found that many UR teams have shifted towards broader team names like “Early Career,” which is the most common team name for recruiting Early Talent, or “Emerging Talent.” In fact, 44% of UR teams changed their name in the past two years or were actively considering a name change. This renaming trend, while not mandated by JAFA, suggests a move toward experience-based criteria rather than strict graduation timelines. Additionally, 15% of companies reported having no specific cutoff for when someone is considered “early career” post-graduation. This flexibility, along with an expanded inclusion of students with associate’s degrees, veterans, and non-degree talent in Early Talent programs, may help with navigating the new law’s impact by widening the scope of eligible talent.

Key Points for Employers

Prohibited Inquiries

Employers cannot ask about:

• Age or date of birth
• Graduation year or education dates
• Indirect age-revealing details (e.g., how long they’ve held a driver’s license or when they first voted)

Allowed Inquiries

Employers can:

• Verify if an applicant will be of age to perform role qualifications that have a legal age requirement such as serving alcohol or driving. However, in doing so, they cannot ask for specific birth dates.
• Request materials like transcripts, but must inform applicants that they are allowed to redact age-related information.

Enforcement & Penalties

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) oversees enforcement. Penalties for violations range from warnings to fines of up to $2,500, with each non-compliant job post or application counted individually.

Who This Applies To

• All employers operating in Colorado, including government entities, regardless of size.
• Application to remote roles remains less defined. For remote positions, where it’s possible a Colorado resident applies, consult with your legal team to ensure you are compliant.

Age Discrimination Policies Beyond Colorado

Colorado’s new age discrimination law is part of a growing trend, joining states like California, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Notably, JAFA stands out for being particularly stringent, and many expect similar legislation to spread to more states soon.

How Employers are Responding to JAFA

In an effort to comply with JAFA, employers have taken various steps, including:

• Reviewing job postings, applications, and recruiting processes to remove prohibited questions.
• Training hiring teams on the new requirements.
• Consulting with legal professionals to ensure compliance, especially for remote work or jobs with age qualifications.
• Adding notices to job descriptions letting Colorado candidates know that they may redact age-identifying information from submitted materials such as resumes or transcripts.
• Retooling screening processes by removing graduation dates from full-time roles.
• Asking about the number of semesters students have left. 
• Sending out an additional form for more information such as class year.

Introducing the Early Career Legal Tracker

In light of evolving legal standards around hiring practices, Veris Insights has developed the Early Career Legal Tracker. This tool helps our University Recruiting Council members stay informed about key legislation and legal developments impacting early career recruiting, including:

• Age discrimination laws like JAFA
• Anti-DEI lawsuits
• Pay transparency mandates
• The use of AI in hiring 

 

The tracker helps UR teams to:

• Stay compliant with both current and upcoming regulations
• Monitor trends and understand their hiring implications
• Generate customized reports by region or legal topic