Employee Background Checks in Colorado

01Why it matters

Why Colorado Employers Screen Before They Hire

Hiring decisions carry real risk. An employee with a hidden history of theft can drain inventory, one with a false degree can expose the company to client claims, and one with a record of violence can put coworkers in danger. Screening does not eliminate those risks, but it gives the employer facts to weigh instead of a resume and a good interview. For small Colorado businesses without an HR department, an outside check can be the difference between a confident hire and an expensive mistake. Our Colorado employee theft investigations see the cost of skipped screening every year.

Screening also protects good candidates. A careful, consistent process applied to everyone in the same role reduces the chance of an unfair decision based on rumor or assumption, and it gives the candidate a chance to explain anything that appears. We report what public records show, note where records are incomplete and avoid conclusions the evidence does not support. When a role involves cash, client funds or sensitive data, our Colorado fraud risk audits can review the controls around that position as well.

02Colorado law

Colorado's Chance to Compete Act and When Criminal History Can Be Considered

Colorado's Chance to Compete Act, C.R.S. § 8-2-130, changes the order of the hiring process. Since September 1, 2021, it has applied to all private employers, after first covering employers with eleven or more employees in 2019. An employer may not state in a job advertisement that people with a criminal history may not apply, and may not ask about or require disclosure of criminal history on an initial written or electronic application. Our Colorado investigative consulting team can help employers review application forms for that problem.

The statute does not ban background checks. It expressly provides that an employer may obtain the publicly available criminal background report of an applicant at any time. Exceptions apply where a law bars employing someone with a particular history, where a law requires a criminal history check for the position, or where the job is part of a program that encourages hiring people with records. In practice, many employers order the check after the initial application stage. Our guide to what Colorado investigators can lawfully do explains the records side.

• No criminal-history questions on the initial application
• No job ads excluding people with records
• Publicly available criminal reports may be obtained at any time
• Exceptions where law requires or bars certain hires
• Applies to all private employers since September 1, 2021

03Credit information

Colorado's Employment Opportunity Act Limits Credit Checks on Applicants

Credit history gets separate treatment. Under the Colorado Employment Opportunity Act, C.R.S. § 8-2-126, an employer generally may not use consumer credit information for employment purposes unless it is substantially related to the employee's current or potential job. An employer also may not require consent to a credit report containing scores, balances or payment history as a condition of employment unless it is a bank or financial institution, the report is required by law, or the report is substantially related to the job and the bona fide purpose is disclosed in writing.

Adverse action triggers a disclosure duty. If an employer relies on consumer credit information, in whole or in part, to take adverse action, it must tell the employee that it did so and identify the particular information relied on, in writing or through the same medium used for the application. For that reason, our standard Colorado checks do not include credit history unless the employer confirms in writing that one of the statutory grounds applies. Employers with financial roles should also review our Colorado compliance audits and work with counsel through our Colorado attorney services.

04The work

What Our Employee Background Checks Cover at Each Level

The $102 basic check confirms identity and address history and searches core criminal and court records, including the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's Internet Criminal History Check, a name-based search of Colorado criminal history records. CBI's system covers Colorado records only and excludes certain records, such as sealed arrests and most juvenile matters, so we search other sources for candidates who lived elsewhere, much as our Colorado witness background checks do. The basic level suits hourly, retail, warehouse and general office roles. Our Colorado workplace theft investigators often recommend it as a minimum for inventory-heavy jobs.

The $300 deep dive goes further. It adds county and federal court searches across the places the candidate has lived, civil judgments and liens, prior lawsuits involving employers, professional license verification where a license is claimed, and confirmation of stated employment and education. For leadership roles, our executive background investigations add regulatory history and public media review. We use lawful, permissible-purpose sources and comply with federal and Colorado privacy law, and each result arrives with a plain-language summary.

05Records

Colorado Courts, CORA and Where Background Records Actually Come From

Colorado's court system shapes where records live. Each of the 64 counties has a county court, district courts are organized into 23 judicial districts, and Denver runs four separate courts: County, District, Probate and Juvenile. A thorough check searches the courts that match the candidate's address history, not just one statewide index. Candidates from Aurora, Arvada, Westminster or Littleton may have records in more than one county because those cities cross county lines. Our Aurora background investigators handle many multi-county searches.

Public records beyond the courts can matter too. The Colorado Open Records Act opens public records to any person, with no residency requirement, and custodians generally have three working days to respond, extendable by up to seven for large requests. That allows targeted requests for licensing, permit or government employment records where relevant. Federal court records for the District of Colorado, which sits in Denver with additional locations in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Durango, are searched in the deep dive. Our Grand Junction investigators cover Western Slope record pulls.

06Fair process

Federal Screening Rules, Consistency and Giving Candidates a Chance to Respond

Colorado statutes are only part of the picture. When a consumer reporting agency prepares a background report for employment purposes, federal Fair Credit Reporting Act rules on disclosure, written authorization and adverse-action notices may apply. Employers should confirm with employment counsel how those rules fit their process before ordering any check, and we are happy to coordinate with counsel on the scope and the paperwork. Our Colorado employment-law attorney support page describes how we usually work with in-house and outside lawyers.

Consistency is the other safeguard. Applying the same check to every finalist for the same position, documenting why a particular result matters for that job and letting candidates explain a record before a final decision all make the process fairer and easier to defend. A conviction from many years ago for conduct unrelated to the job may deserve less weight than a recent one that is directly related. When the concern is about someone already employed, our Colorado employee surveillance service handles current-staff questions separately.

07Vetting and price

Choosing a Screening Provider and What Employee Background Checks in Colorado Cost

Colorado no longer licenses private investigators at the state level, and background-check vendors vary widely in the sources they use and the care they take. Ask any provider which courts it actually searches, how it handles common names and out-of-state history, and whether a person reviews results before they are delivered. Delator Group is a licensed Tennessee private investigation firm and applies that standard to Colorado screening. Our Colorado vetting guide for investigators lists more questions, and you can read about Delator's leadership.

Pricing is straightforward. A basic background check is $102 and a deep-dive background check is $300, the Tennessee price plus 20 percent for remote work. Executive, partner and specialized checks are quoted in writing, and field verification, such as visiting a claimed business address, is billed at $100 per hour. Volume pricing for regular hiring can be discussed in advance. See our Colorado service pricing for all standard rates, or contact Delator to set up screening for your company.

Services

Employee Background Check Services in Colorado

• Basic employee checkIdentity, address history and core criminal and court records, including Colorado's CBI name-based search, for $102 per candidate with a plain-language summary.Learn more
• Deep-dive employee checkCounty and federal court searches across past addresses, civil judgments, employer lawsuits and employment and education verification, for $300 per candidate.Learn more
• Executive and leadership screeningExpanded research for senior hires covering litigation, regulatory actions, business affiliations and public media history, quoted in writing before work begins.Learn more
• Business partner vettingBackground research on prospective partners, investors and key contractors before ownership, money or confidential information changes hands in a Colorado venture.Learn more
• Credit-related role reviewsGuidance on whether a position meets Colorado's substantially-related standard for credit information, coordinated with employment counsel before any credit data is used.Learn more
• Field verificationIn-person confirmation of claimed businesses, addresses or prior employers when records alone cannot answer the question, billed at $100 per hour with travel disclosed.Learn more
• Current employee investigationsInvestigation of misconduct, theft or policy concerns involving someone already on staff, scoped separately from pre-hire screening and tied to a business reason.Learn more
• Witness and reference checksBackground research on witnesses and references in employment disputes, helping counsel understand who is offering testimony or statements about a former employee.Learn more
• Hiring process consultingReview of application forms, screening timing and documentation practices so a Colorado employer's process fits the Chance to Compete Act and related rules.Learn more

How it works

How a Colorado Employee Background Check Works

1. 01

   Position and scope review

   You tell us the role, its duties and the hiring stage. We recommend the basic or deep-dive level and confirm whether any credit-related or required-by-law checks apply.

2. 02

   Candidate details and consent

   You provide the candidate's identifying information and any authorization your process uses. We confirm the scope and price in writing before research begins on the file.

3. 03

   Records research and verification

   We search the courts and record sources that match the candidate's history, verify claimed employment and education where included, and resolve common-name matches carefully before reporting anything.

4. 04

   Written results and summary

   You receive the findings with a plain-language summary, notes on any incomplete records and a list of the sources searched, so your hiring decision rests on documented facts.

Compare

Employee Background Check Levels for Colorado Employers

Statewide coverage

Employee Screening for Employers Across Colorado

Background research is largely remote, so location rarely limits what we can do, but local knowledge of courts still helps. Metro employers work with our Denver background investigators, El Paso County businesses with the Colorado Springs team, and Larimer County employers with our Fort Collins investigators. Boulder County hiring is supported from Boulder, and southern Colorado from Pueblo. When field verification is needed in mountain, plains or Western Slope counties, travel is quoted in writing first, and every employer receives the same written results format.

• Denver
• Colorado Springs
• Aurora
• Fort Collins
• Boulder
• Pueblo
• All of Colorado

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Every service

Investigations available in Colorado

Every service below is available in Colorado and across Colorado, run by the same Delator Group leadership that manages our Tennessee casework. Choose a service to read how it works in Colorado.

Service areas

Private investigators across Colorado