Bill Allowing Indiscriminate Charges of Harassment Coming Up for a Vote

April 4, 2023

Bill Allowing Indiscriminate Charges of Harassment Coming Up for a Vote

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, tony.gagliardi@nfib.org, or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, anthony.malandra@nfib.org DENVER, March 4, 2023—The state director for Colorado’s most important employer group today called on backers of Senate Bill 172 to clarify what and who they’re going after in more flesh-and-blood terms when their so-called Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights (POWR) Act comes up for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow (March 5). “The bill is full of vague proscriptions in search of aggrieved parties and unspecified perpetrators,” according to Tony Gagliardi, Colorado state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). “That the proposal also ‘specifies the requirements for an employer to assert an affirmative defense to an employee’s proven claim of unlawful harassment’ is of no comfort because the entire rest of the measure creates new reasons to nail employers for something. Given the ideological composition of this General Assembly, our only hope of seeing SB 172 defeated rests with the calendar and its May 8 adjournment date for the session.” According to the bill’s Fiscal Note, SB 172 “redefines harassment as ‘unwelcome conduct related to an individual’s membership in a protected class, and submission to the conduct is a condition of the individual’s employment, is used as a basis for employment decisions, or would be offensive to a reasonable person in the same protected class;’ specifies that harassment does not need to be severe or pervasive to constitute a discriminatory or unfair practice.” Keep up with the latest Colorado small-business news at www.nfib.com/colorado or by following NFIB on Twitter @NFIB_CO or on Facebook @NFIB.CO ### For nearly 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com. NFIB Colorado 1700 Lincoln Street, 17th Floor Denver, CO 80203 303-860-1778 www.nfib.com/colorado Twitter: @NFIB_CO Facebook: NFIB.CO