Colorado Labor Laws

In the US, there are federal laws in place to manage the time spent by employees in the workplace, safeguarding their rights and guaranteeing fair pay for their efforts. These laws act as directives for employers, keeping them in check, and minimizing any forms of abuse or exploitation.

Generally, time management laws in Colorado adhere to the standards set forth by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which sets workers’ hourly wage rates and overtime pay and requires employers to keep an accurate record of their employees’ working hours. However, there are state-specific laws that provide stricter minimum wage, overtime, and break protections, which are as follows: 

Employers who contravene federal or state time management laws can face severe legal ramifications, including fines, back pay, and damages. If workers feel their employer has violated their rights, they can file complaints, complaints, responses, and settlements with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment for investigation and legal action.

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, enforced by the Colorado Civil Rights Division, prohibits employers from discriminating against job applicants during the hiring process based on the following protected characteristics:   

Working employees are also protected from unfair treatment and discrimination due to these protected traits. To further promote fairness in the workplace, Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act requires employers to pay the same wages to jobs with similar responsibilities, regardless of the gender performing the job. 

Additionally, the Act enforces ‘Pay Transparency’ regulations, mandating employers to disclose a job’s wage information publically in all official notices and advertisements. Similarly, information related to available jobs and promotions within an organization as well as methods of career progression must also be openly available for eligible employees. 

Employment contracts in Colorado follow the at-will employment policy. This means an employer or employee can choose to end an employment contract at any time and for any reason.  

However, employees cannot be terminated due to discrimination, wrongful retaliation, or in violation of public policies. In case of wrongful termination, employees have the right to claim relief with relevant authorities. 

Final wages must be paid immediately to employees in cases of termination or layoffs. If an employee does not have an established payroll schedule, they must be paid within six hours after the start of their next payroll period. If such an employee works off-site, they must be paid within 24 hours of the beginning of their next pay period. 

Employees who resign must be paid final wages by their next regular payday. Final wages can be dispatched to the employee’s work location, their local office, or their last known mailing address. 

Lastly, employees who have complained about lost wages must receive their dues within 14 days of their request or the Colorado Division of Labor Standards and Statistics official notice. Employers are allowed by law to take up to ten days to ensure all due wages are cleared for a specific payroll period. 

Other important laws that can affect employment contracts in Colorado include:

• Health Insurance Laws: Employees in Colorado can continue their health insurance coverage under the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) after certain life events, including job loss, reduction in work hours, job transition, death, or divorce. COBRA applies to employers with 20 or more employees and offers coverage for a maximum of 36 months. Qualified employees may be required to pay up to 102% of the plan’s cost as a premium. 
• Workplace Safety Laws: Colorado adheres to the regulations set by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to keep workers safe and healthy on the job. OSHA mandates that employees are properly trained to handle dangerous substances and machinery and requires adequate safety measures in potentially hazardous work environments. Additionally, OSHA inspectors can conduct on-site inspections to ensure workplace safety regulations are being met.
• Ban-the-Box Laws: The Colorado Chance to Compete Act prohibits all employers, except government agencies, from inquiring about a job applicant’s conviction history in a job advertisement or during the hiring process. While there are restrictions for accessing an applicant or employee’s conviction history, Colorado law recognizes instances where background checks are necessary for employment due to the nature of the job such as working with money or children.  Employers can also conduct background checks after a conditional offer of employment. 
• Social Media Usage Laws: Under Colorado law, employers cannot ask employees to disclose their personal social media login credentials or change their privacy settings. Furthermore, job applicants or employees cannot be forced to add anyone, including their employer, to their list of personal social media contacts. Employees are also protected from employer retaliation and penalties for refusal to comply. However, login credentials for company devices, publically available information, and information related to accounts existing for business purposes can be requested by the employer if required for investigations.
• Whistleblower Protection Laws: Employees in Colorado are granted protection from employer retaliation and termination for reporting workplace safety and health violations to relevant authorities. Workers unfairly treated for whistleblowing can claim wrongful retaliation with the Colorado State Personnel Board within ten days of the occurrence.

A minimum wage is the lowest amount of compensation that must be paid to an employee for work performed in a specific time. Payment laws in Colorado are regulated by the Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards Order (COMPS Order), which outlines a state minimum wage that applies to all private-sector employees, and local minimum wages that only apply to certain localities in the state. 

As of January 1, 2025, the minimum wage in Colorado is $14.81 per hour, regardless of whether the employee is hourly, salaried, or earns by piece rate or commissions. 

Local Wages in Colorado

Starting January 1, 2025, Colorado has four additional local wages that apply to employees in the following locations:

Note that Boulder County’s local minimum wage applies in its unincorporated municipalities but not to locations including Boulder, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, Erie, Jamestown, Lyons, Nederland, Superior, and Ward.   

Workers who earn more than $30 in tips monthly are classified as tipped employees in Colorado. As of January 1, 2025, wage laws allow employers in the state to pay a reduced cash wage of $11.79 with a tip credit of $3.02 to tipped employees. 

Local Wages for Tipped Employees in Colorado

Local wage laws also allow employers to take a tip credit of $3.02 from a tipped employee’s hourly wage, and pay the following reduced cash wages: 

All employers In Colorado must ensure that a tipped employee’s cash wages and tips are combined to equal the state’s minimum wage. If they don’t, the employer is required to make up the difference. 

Colorado’s COMPS order excludes the following types of employees from receiving state-mandated minimum wages: 

• Administrative employees, executives or supervisors, professional employees
• Outside salespeople
• High-ranking employees that own or manage 20% of a non-profit organization
• Licensed taxi drivers
• Resident workers like babysitters, camping staff
• Volunteers
• Work-study students
• Elected officials
• Highly technical employees in computer-related occupations who earn high wages
• Highly compensated employees
• Non-emancipated minors, who can be paid 85% of the applicable minimum wage

By July 1, 2025, the state of Colorado will completely phase out subminimum wages. This means that employees with disabilities will be eligible for full minimum wages, regardless of the employer’s possession of a certificate that authorizes them to pay subminimum wages.  

Colorado labor law requires employers to pay their employees on regular paydays set 30 days apart. Furthermore, all wages must be paid within 10 days after the end of each pay period.

Employees in Colorado are entitled to overtime pay at 1.5 times their regular rate of pay once they work more than 12 hours in a day, 40 hours in a week, or 12 hours consecutively. This amount currently stands at $22.215 per hour for minimum-wage workers. 

To calculate overtime wages, employers cannot average an employee’s work hours over two or more weeks. Compensatory time off (also known as comp time) is not allowed. This is when an employer can offer an employee time off instead of overtime pay.

According to the 2025 update of the Colorado COMPS Orders, employees earning more than $1,086.25 per week (or $56,485 annually) are considered exempt from overtime pay. This generally includes executives, administrators, supervisors, and creative professionals. 

Additionally, the following occupations are also exempt from overtime pay in the state: 

• Highly compensated employees earning $127,091 annually
• Computer employees earning $34.07 per hour
• Outside salespersons
• Certain hospital and nursing home employees
• Ski resort workers (with certain conditions)
• Interstate transport workers (under certain conditions)
• Mechanics for certain farm and motor vehicles 
• Employees who earn commissions (under certain conditions)

Employees who work for more than 5 consecutive hours are entitled to an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes. During this time, employees should not be expected to perform any work duties. 

However, if a situation requires the employee to eat while working, the break should be fully compensated. Ideally, the meal break should be scheduled one hour after the start and an hour before the end of the employee’s shift, if possible.

Colorado break laws require employers to provide employees with a ten-minute paid rest period after every four hours of consecutive work. Longer periods of work require additional rest breaks; employees who work:

• Between six to ten hours are entitled to two rest breaks
• Between ten to 14 hours are entitled to three rest breaks
• Between14 to 18 hours are entitled to four rest breaks
• Between 18 to 22 hours are entitled to five rest breaks
• Over 22 hours are entitled to six rest breaks

Rest breaks should be scheduled in the middle of the four-hour period and employees must be completely relieved of their job duties for the duration of the break. Lastly, employees are entitled to extra pay if they are not allowed rest breaks.

All nursing employees in Colorado are offered accommodations to breastfeed at their workplace under the Colorado Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act. The Act entitles breastfeeding employees to use paid and unpaid meal and rest breaks to express milk for up to two years after a child’s birth. 

Employers in Colorado are required to provide breastfeeding employees with a private room in or near their workplace that is free from intrusion and is not a toilet. However, this policy does not apply to employers if it poses an undue hardship.

Colorado law provides the following types of leave benefits for employees:

• Family and Medical Leave: Employees covered by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act can take up to 480 hours of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for qualifying reasons. These include the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child, a serious health condition affecting the employee or an immediate family member, or obligations related to military service or caring for a military family member. Employees covered by state family and medical leave are eligible for an additional 40 hours of unpaid leave for similar reasons.  
• Sick Leave: The Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act entitles employees to one hour of leave for every 30 hours worked. A maximum of 48 hours of sick leave can be accrued per year. Employees can use this leave for illness, injury, or a condition that affects their ability to work, as well as for diagnosis, treatment, and preventive care, such as vaccinations. In addition, employees may use this leave if they are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or harassment, or if they need to care for family members with any of the listed conditions or needs. Employers must pay the employee for the time off at their regular rate and cannot retaliate against the employee for taking this leave.
• Jury Duty Leave: State law requires employers to extend jury duty leave to their employees without a risk to their job security. During jury leave, employees are entitled to compensation at their regular wage rate, provided that it doesn’t surpass 50$ per day, and there is no alternative arrangement between the employer and employee.
• Voting Leave: Employers in Colorado must give a two-hour paid leave to their employees to cast their ballots. However, employees are not eligible for voting leave if they fail to request leave at least one day in advance, or if the employee has at least a three-hour window before starting or after ending their shift while the polls are still open. 
• Military Leave: Employees serving in the National Guard or military reserves are eligible for a leave of up to 15 days in a 12-month period for military training. Once discharged, employees are entitled to return to their previous job position or a similar position that offers the same benefits and wages. Furthermore, employees can also use other types of paid and unpaid leave to report for military duty. 
• Emergency Response Leave: In Colorado, local authorities allow qualified volunteers to request up to 15 days of leave per year to respond to emergencies and disasters. An employee’s employment wage benefits and seniority are protected while they are away on leave. Government employees are paid, whereas private sector employees are unpaid for the duration of the leave.
• Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Leave: Victims of domestic violence or sexual assault have the right to take up to three days off in one calendar year to obtain a restraining order, and get legal and medical counseling, and treatment. It is mandated that all employers with 50 or more employees provide this leave to their employees. Unless waived by the employer, employees are also required to use all other leave benefits provided to them before requesting domestic violence leave.

The following public holidays will be observed in Colorado for the fiscal year of 2024-25:

A minor in Colorado is defined as an individual under the age of 18. However, minors who are high school graduates or have passed the general educational development exam are not covered by state child labor laws. 

The minimum age of employment in Colorado is 14. Children younger than 14 can be employed as child actors, models, performers, newspaper carriers, gardeners (without power tools), casual domestic workers, golf caddies, and babysitters.

Age Certificates for Minor Employment in Colorado

Employers in Colorado can require a minor to provide an age certificate. Minors can obtain this document from the school superintendent of the district or county they live in. 

Age certificates must show the minor’s age, date of birth, and contact information as well as the work schedule permissible for the minor. An employer is required to retain this certificate for the entire duration of the minor’s employment. 

School Release Permits for Minors in Colorado

Minors aged 15 or older can choose to work during school hours if they obtain a school release permit from the school district superintendent or an agent of the board of education. 

This permit is only valid for 30 days and can only be issued with proof of such employment from the minor’s employer as well as the consent of the minor’s parent/guardian. Furthermore, the issuing officer must also determine that the minor’s employment during school hours does not violate state law and believe it to be in the minor’s best interests to allow them to work. 

According to the CYEOA, employers must adhere to the following workhour guidelines for employing minors under the age of 16:

• Work cannot be scheduled during school hours.
• Daily work hours cannot exceed six, except if the next day is a non-school day. 
• Work cannot be scheduled between 9:30 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. unless the next day is a non-school day. 

Minors aged 16 and 17 can work a maximum of 40 hours weekly, or eight hours in a 24-hour period. Minors aged 14 and older, who are also employed seasonally with a pice-rate wage, can work more than eight but less than 12 hours in a 24-hour period. 

They may also not work more than 30 hours in a 72-hour period. Minors can work more than eight hours in a day if they work only ten days in a 30-day period.

The CYEOA has also outlined a list of occupations that are deemed hazardous for minors aged 14 and older. These include:

If a person with legal responsibility over a minor violates the regulations set by the CYEOA, they can be fined $20 to $100 for each offense. An employer in violation of these policies can face fines of $20 to $200 for each offense the first time. If an employer violates these regulations a second time, they may be subject to fines of $100 to $500 per offense.