Effective August 10, 2016, Colorado employers will no longer have to complete the state affirmation verifying employment authorization of new employees. Similarly, they will no longer be required to keep a new employee’s identity and employment authorization document(s). Governor Hickenlooper recently signed into law a provision that repeals the verification requirements passed in 2006 during a special legislative session.
Employers are reminded that the verification law remains in place until August 10, 2016 so until then they must continue to complete the Colorado affirmation and retain documents. Additionally, the law does not address whether employers are required to retain the legally completed affirmations and retained documents subsequent to August 10, 2016. The conservative approach would be to retain them for the duration of the employee’s tenure as was originally required.