Colorado passes criminal records “Clean Slate Act”
The new Colorado “Clean Slate Act” aims to help persons with a criminal history improve their chances of employment by automatically sealing certain arrest and conviction records.
Published: June 13, 2022 | by Robert S. Teachout, Legal Editor at Brightmine
A new law in Colorado aims to help persons with a criminal history improve their chances of employment by automatically sealing certain arrest and conviction records.
Under the Clean Slate Act, any arrest records that do not result in a conviction will be automatically sealed beginning in 2024. Other records for certain criminal convictions will be automatically sealed after a specified length of time, provided the person whose record it is has not committed an intervening crime:
- Civil infractions, four years after final disposition of the case;
- Petty offenses and misdemeanors, after seven years; and
- Felonies, 10 years after final disposition or release from jail, whichever is later.
Violent crimes (such as assault, sexual assault, robber and murder) that are covered by the Colorado Crime Victims Rights Act are ineligible. The law also does not permit records to be sealed if the defendant has not fully paid all restitution, fines or court fees related to the case.
The new law amends the Colorado Consumer Credit Reporting Act to require consumer reporting agencies to exclude sealed and expunged records from a consumer report, except in limited circumstances where the user of the report demonstrates they must consider the information under state or federal law. Employers sometimes use consumer credit reports for preemployment screening of job applicants.
Colorado joins Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Utah, which have similar laws.
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About the author
Robert S. Teachout, SHRM-SCP
Legal Editor, Brightmine
Robert Teachout has more than 30 years’ experience in legal publishing covering employment laws on the state and federal level. At Brightmine, he covers labor relations, performance appraisals and promotions, succession and workforce planning, HR professional development and employment contracts. He often writes on the intersection of compliance with HR strategy and practice.
Before joining Brightmine, Robert was a senior HR editor at Thompson Information Services, covering FMLA, ADA, EEO issues and federal and state leave laws. Prior to that he was the primary editor of Bloomberg BNA’s State Labor Laws binders and was the principal writer and editor of the State Wage Assignment and Garnishment Handbook. Robert also served as a union unit leader and shop steward in the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild of the Communications Workers of America. Actively involved in the HR profession, Robert is a member of SHRM at both the national and local levels, and gives back to the profession by serving as the communications vice president on the board of his local chapter.