• Picketing is governed by specific laws in Colorado.
  
  Picketing is a form of protest of a business. Employees and their supporters stand, or march, in front of the business, holding signs which openly state their disapproval with the working environment or practices of the employer. Colorado has specific laws surrounding the rights of picketers, and the business they are picketing, to ensure this form of protest is done in an orderly fashion.
  
  

First Amendment Rights

• Every worker in the state of Colorado is allowed to picket or protest a business, as protected under the First Amendment rights of the United States Constitution (freedom of speech). Employees, ex-employees and their supporters may congregate in front of the business (off the business's property) and voice their displeasure with the business by holding signs and speaking their minds. Often, the larger the group of people who join the protest in a legal and orderly manner, the more likely it is the business being picketed will listen.
  
  

Disturbing the Peace

• Picketers are allowed to picket in front of the business so long as they don't disturb the peace or prevent other employees still working at the business, or customers of the business, from coming and going. It is illegal for a picketer to physically stop or verbally intimidate a customer or employee of a business being picketed in the state of Colorado. It is also illegal for the picketer to shout or display lewd or offensive messages about the business on signs. Such displays are considered breaches of the peace. Picketers may also not block roadways or public sidewalks in front of the business.
  
  

Residential Picketing

• In Colorado, picketers may only protest in front of the actual business location, although this law has fluctuated in recent years. During much of the twentieth century, it was illegal for picketers to go to a residential neighborhood and picket in front of a business owner's, or executive's, home, as it disturbed the peace in the neighborhood and was considered a form of intimidation. This law changed in 2001 and residential picketing was allowed. The new law, however, was repealed in 2008, again making residential picketing illegal. Such protest can now lead to picketers being arrested.