Colorado recently advanced the flight against age discrimination by implementing the Job Application Fairness Act (JAFA) — a law designed to reshape how employers assess candidates during early hiring stages. While current laws prohibit age discrimination, JAFA is one of the first to specifically ban asking for educational graduation dates up front — a quiet but prevalent way employers have inferred an applicant’s age for decades. 

What the Law Prohibits — and Why Graduation Dates Matter 

Under JAFA, Colorado employers may no longer ask for or require the following on a job application: 

• Age 
• Date of birth 
• Dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution 

That last item — graduation dates — is the key differentiator. While not as direct as asking for age, it’s long been a proxy that allows employers to guess how old a candidate might be. This subtle form of bias can easily disadvantage younger or older applicants, depending on the job and the person making the hire.   By removing these fields from early-stage screening, JAFA’s goal is to level the playing field, ensuring that hiring decisions are based solely on skills, experience, and qualifications — not assumptions. 

Are There Any Exceptions? 

Yes — but they’re narrow. Employers can only collect age-related information later in the hiring process under these narrow conditions: 

• Age is a bona fide occupational qualification (such as for safety-sensitive roles – think lifeguard or pilot) 
• Federal or state law mandates it.
• A legal obligation exists to verify age.

Even in these cases, the law emphasizes that age-related questions should not appear on the initial application. 

What Happens if Employers Don’t Comply? 

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) will oversee enforcement. Penalties increase with each violation: 

• First offense: Written warning and 15 days to correct. 
• Second offense: Up to $1,000 *fine. 
• Additional offenses: Up to $2,500* each. 

*Note: these are maximum penalties — actual fines may be lower based on CDLE enforcement discretion.  Each noncompliant job posting can be treated as a separate violation — meaning that a company with multiple postings could rack up penalties quickly if they don’t update their application processes. 

What Employers Should Do Now 

Colorado employers should: 

• Review and revise all job application forms 
• Remove graduation date and age-related fields from screening documents 
• Train HR and hiring teams on JAFA’s requirements 
• Audit third-party platforms and applicant tracking systems (ATS) to ensure compliance 

JAFA also complements existing Colorado laws like the “ban-the-box” statute, which limits when employers can ask about criminal histories. Together, these laws emphasize fair, skills-first hiring practices. 

Conclusion: Progress Through Precision 

The Job Application Fairness Act doesn’t just tell employers not to discriminate — it proactively removes tools that enable discrimination to happen behind the scenes. By banning graduation dates from initial applications, Colorado sets a national example in promoting fair, age-neutral hiring.