Key Points

• Colorado now prohibits employers from demanding, confiscating, retaining, or otherwise requiring employees, applicants and workers (including migrant workers or seasonal employees) to surrender their government-issued identification cards, subject to a narrow exception allowing temporary retention (up to 10 hours) for Form I-9 employment eligibility verification.
• Employers must provide written notice of this prohibition — in English and, where known, the individual’s primary language — and obtain the individual’s acknowledgment of that notice.

Colorado has enacted a new law — HB26-1283 (C.R.S. § 8-2-124.5) — that prohibits employers from demanding, confiscating, retaining, or otherwise requiring employees, applicants and other individuals performing or seeking to perform work (including seasonal employees or migrant workers) to surrender their government-issued identification cards. A “government-issued identification card” includes:

• A state-issued driver’s license or identification card containing the person’s photograph.
• A federal government-issued identification card or passport containing the person’s photograph.
• A Native American tribal document identifying the person and containing the person’s photograph.
• Any other form of identification issued by the federal or a state government that contains the person’s photograph and identifying information.

The law, which includes a narrow exception for I-9 verification purposes, took effect June 3, 2026.

Employers may request and temporarily retain an individual’s government-issued identification card or other I-9 documents to verify the individual’s employment eligibility through the I-9 process but may retain it only for as long as necessary to verify employment eligibility and to make a copy of the card. In no case can an employer retain the identification card for more than 10 hours. Employers are expressly permitted to retain a copy of the government-issued identification card in their records.

Notwithstanding the general prohibition described above, an employer may also retain a government-issued identification document where the retention is:

1. “(R)equired or permitted by state or federal law or regulation, including for the purpose of verifying an individual's employment eligibility.”
2. “(P)erformed pursuant to a signed judicial warrant.”

This carveout is broader than, and independent of, the I-9 verification exception described above, and preserves an employer’s ability to retain identification documents where a separate legal authority requires or permits it, or where the employer is compelled to do so by a court. Retention must be grounded in a legal requirement or permission or in a signed judicial warrant.

A New Step in the Employment Eligibility Verification Process

During the I-9 process, employers must notify the individual that the law prohibits employers from demanding, confiscating, retaining or otherwise requiring them to surrender their government-issued identification cards. The notice must be in writing, in English, and in the individual’s primary language, if the employer knows the individual’s primary language is not English. The written notice must be acknowledged by the individual, and the employer must retain a record of the notification and acknowledgement in its employment records.

We recommend maintaining this record in the individual’s personnel file, separate from the I-9 and any supporting documents. Currently there is no state-issued template notice, and employers must prepare their own compliant acknowledgement.

The new law applies to both Colorado employers and multi-state employers with Colorado employees. Employers will need to strategize the most effective way to incorporate this new requirement into their onboarding process. Those utilizing HRIS platforms/electronic Forms I-9 should consult with their vendor to ensure this requirement will be satisfied within the onboarding process.

Employers may also take this opportunity to remind HR professionals and those involved with the Form I-9 process of the requirement to review the original Form I-9 List A/B-C documents, make copies (where required and/or policy), and timely return the originals to the employee.

Criminal and Civil Consequences for Violations

Employers who knowingly violate the prohibition against demanding, confiscating, retaining or otherwise requiring individuals to surrender their government-issued identification cards commit “criminal possession of an identification document” under C.R.S. § 18-5-903.5, which is a class 2 misdemeanor. Because C.R.S. § 18-5-903.5 applies more broadly to “a person” who “knowingly confiscates or possesses or controls” another person’s identification document¹ “without permission or lawful authority,” an individual employee or agent who personally carries out the confiscation may also face individual criminal liability, separate from the employer. An individual harmed by a person’s commission of this criminal offense may seek a court order for the immediate return of the document and bring a civil action to recover any damages caused by the violation.

Violations of this law may also be prosecuted as a “bias-motivated” crime under C.R.S. § 18-9-121. A person — including an individual employee — commits a “bias-motivated” crime if, with “the intent to intimidate or harass another person, in whole or in part, because of that person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity,” the person commits criminal possession of an identification document or “provides, or threatens to provide, an individual’s government-issued identification document to federal immigration authorities, except where otherwise required or permitted under state or federal law.” These “bias-motivated” crimes are class 1 misdemeanors.

For more information, please contact Ali Brodie or Jessica Tsuda or another member of Fox Rothschild’s Immigration or Labor & Employment Departments.

This information is intended to inform firm clients and friends about legal developments, including the decisions of courts and administrative bodies. Nothing in this alert should be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Readers should not act upon the information contained in this alert without seeking the advice of legal counsel. Views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily this law firm or its clients.

[1] Under C.R.S. § 18-5-903.5, the offense covers another person’s actual driver’s license, actual government-issued identification card, actual social security card, or actual passport.