#Some companies excluding Colorado from remote work postings

Major American companies are recruiting remote workers from across the US — but not in Colorado.

A new state pay-transparency law, which requires companies that have a presence in the state to disclose the expected salary for each open role they advertise, is scaring off big companies from hiring remote workers in the Centennial State.

The goal of the law is to narrow the gender and racial wage gaps, as well as provide greater salary transparency to everyone.

But the law’s now prompting some of the country’s biggest companies to shun the state’s remote workers, with some employers telling residents not to apply for open roles, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

At pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, for example, a role recently posted for a senior manager in operations warns: “Work location is flexible if approved by the Company except that position may not be performed remotely from Colorado.”

Commercial real estate giant CBRE is looking for a project management director who can work “remotely anywhere within the United States except the State of Colorado,” according to the posting.

McKesson, the pharmaceutical distributor, is looking for a sales specialist who “can be remote/virtual in any state in the contiguous US except Colorado,” a posting says. And Cardinal Health has postings up for several positions that include a similar caveat.

J&J, CBRE, McKesson and Cardinal Health did not immediately return requests for comment from The Post.

Other companies, though, have opted to comply with the law. Amazon, for example, is looking for a remote software development engineer, and notes that the pay range for the role in Colorado would be between $116,400 and $160,000 a year, though it could vary.

“This information is provided per the Colorado Equal Pay Act,” Amazon’s posting specifies.

The Journal reported that various business groups have criticized the Colorado law, which went into effect in January, for placing an administrative burden on employers.

Earlier this year, the Rocky Mountain Association of Recruiters sought an injunction against the law, but a federal judge denied that request last month, the Journal said.

Scott Moss, director of the division of labor standards and statistics at Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment, told the Journal that the state is investigating at least one complain over a company’s remote job posting that excluded Colorado residents.

Moss added that the law has been successful in “getting job postings to include the pay,” according to the Journal.