Colorado Employment Laws

Colorado often provides broader employee protections than federal law requires. When both federal and state employment laws apply, employers must generally follow whichever law gives employees greater protection. This means Colorado workers and employers need to understand their rights and obligations under both Colorado and federal employment law.

Key areas where Colorado expands on federal protections include:

• Minimum wage rates

• Overtime requirements

• Anti-discrimination coverage

• Paid family and medical leave

• Workplace safety standards

Understanding these distinctions helps both employees and employers navigate their legal responsibilities.

Key Colorado Employment Laws

Some key Colorado labor and employment laws include:

• Colorado Revised Statutes (C.R.S.) Title 8 (Labor and Industry), which includes the Colorado Wage Act, the Colorado Minimum Wage Act, and the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

• Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA)

• Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards (COMPS) Order No. 38

• Case law from state appellate courts and the Colorado Supreme Court

Who Is Protected?

The state of Colorado’s employment laws apply to eligible employees. Independent contractors are excluded from several of the employment laws. In addition, some of the employment laws apply only to nonexempt employees.

Exempt employees are not entitled to certain wage-and-hour protections that apply to nonexempt employees, most notably minimum wage and overtime requirements. In either case, the employer’s penalties for misclassifying a worker—as an independent contractor or as an exempt employee—can be severe.

Employees vs. Independent Contractors in Colorado

A worker may be classified as an independent contractor under federal law, but could still be classified as an employee under the less restrictive Colorado law.

Colorado generally presumes a worker is an employee. The burden is on the hiring entity to prove independent contractor status. For example, a rideshare driver might be classified as an independent contractor under federal law, but Colorado’s stricter standards could classify them as an employee for certain protections.

The state tests for classifying workers are context-specific, meaning different tests apply depending on what type of employment claim is at stake—unemployment, workers’ compensation, or wage and hour.

Colorado provides strong protections to employees—and imposes severe penalties on employers who misclassify a worker as an independent contractor.

Exempt vs. Nonexempt Employees

Under both federal and state law, exempt employees are not entitled to all the employee protections that nonexempt employees are. While some people equate exempt status with salary pay and nonexempt status with hourly pay, salary-based pay alone is not enough to exempt an employee.

Exemptions under the Colorado COMPS Order may be based on an employee’s duties, ownership interest, or specific occupation, such as:

• Executive, administrative, and professional duties plus minimum salary

• Highly technical computer employee exemptions

• Ownership-based

• Position-based exemptions and exceptions (babysitter, taxi cab driver, etc.)

Although they are exempt from certain wage-and-hour protections, exempt employees are still protected by many employment laws, including:

• Anti-discrimination laws

• Anti-retaliation laws

• HFWA paid sick leave

• FAMLI benefits

• Workers’ compensation

• Unemployment insurance

• Equal Pay for Equal Work Act protections

Federal Employment Laws and Colorado Counterparts

When federal and state employment laws overlap, employers must generally comply with whichever law provides employees with the greater protection, unless federal law specifically overrides state law under the Supremacy Clause.

As a result, Colorado can provide workers with rights and benefits that exceed federal minimum standards, including expanded leave protections, stronger wage-and-hour protections, expanded civil rights protections, and additional occupational safety protections.

Leave of Absence Protections

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is the primary federal law covering family and medical leave. Eligible employees may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying family and medical reasons.

The Colorado state law is the Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act (FAMLI). Leave under FAMLI is paid, funded through a joint employer-employee payroll premium, and administered as a state insurance program.

FAMLI provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year, with extensions available for certain pregnancy- or childbirth-related serious health conditions. Additional Colorado statutes cover protected time off for activities such as jury duty and voting.

Paid sick leave is addressed separately in the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA). Colorado law requires employers to provide two types of paid sick leave to their employees:

• Accrued sick leave: Employers must provide at least 1 hour of accrued, paid sick leave for every 30 hours of work, up to 48 hours per year. Employers can satisfy this obligation through accrual or frontloading.

• Public health emergency (PHE): This supplemental paid leave mandate under the HFWA requires employers to provide up to 80 hours of paid leave when a qualifying state or federal emergency (like a pandemic) is declared. It is not currently in effect.

Employees may use HFWA leave for their own health needs, to care for a family member, for reasons related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, for certain bereavement leave, and for other qualifying circumstances specified by the statute.

Wage and Hour Protections

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) addresses workplace requirements such as minimum wage, overtime pay, and rest and child labor standards.

Colorado’s wage and hour requirements are found in the Colorado Wage Act, the Colorado Minimum Wage Act, and the COMPS Order No. 38. Some of Colorado’s key wage and hour protections include:

Minimum wage: The general state minimum wage rate is currently $15.16 per hour. The minimum wage for tipped employees is $12.14 per hour, as long as their total tips bring them up to the full $15.16 minimum wage rate.

Some cities and counties, including Denver, Edgewater, and Boulder, impose a higher minimum wage than the state. Rates adjust annually. Colorado employers can sometimes pay less than the full minimum wage in certain situations:

• Employers can generally pay unemancipated minors 15% below the full state minimum wage.

• Employers can—with important limits and conditions—claim some credits (like tips received) against wages owed and make some deductions (like employee meals) against wages owed.

Overtime: Nonexempt employees are entitled to overtime pay 1.5 times their regular pay rate for hours worked over:

• 40 hours in a workweek

• 12 hours in a workday

• 12 consecutive hours, regardless of when the workday begins or ends

Rest breaks and meal breaks: Nonexempt employees are generally entitled to a 10-minute paid rest break for every four hours worked and an uninterrupted 30-minute unpaid meal period for shifts over five hours. When the nature of the work prevents an uninterrupted meal period, the meal period must generally be paid.

Paychecks: Employers must pay employees regularly, and pay periods may not exceed one calendar month or 30 days. Employers must issue paychecks on regular paydays established by the employer, and wages must be paid within the time limits established by the Colorado Wage Act.

Final paychecks: If an employee is fired, their final paycheck is typically due immediately. If they quit, the paycheck is due on the next regular payday. Further, all earned but unused accrued vacation must be paid out as wages upon separation because the Colorado Wage Act treats vacation time as earned wages.

Civil Rights Protections

The key federal laws protecting civil rights include:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)

These federal laws prohibit discrimination based on protected characteristics and may hold employers liable for unlawful workplace harassment and discrimination, particularly when employers fail to take appropriate corrective action.

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) expands upon federal law in three significant ways:

1. Protected characteristics: While many of its protections overlap with federal law, CADA specifically prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, creed, and ancestry, and it provides broad protections for people with disabilities.

2. Expanded coverage: CADA generally applies to all Colorado employers regardless of size. By contrast, Title VII and the ADA generally apply only to employers with 15 or more employees, while the ADEA applies only to employers with 20 or more employees.

3. Lower harassment threshold: CADA provides that harassment may be unlawful if the conduct is subjectively offensive to the individual and objectively offensive to a reasonable person who is a member of the same protected class, considering the totality of the circumstances. Federal law generally requires harassment to be “severe or pervasive” enough to alter the terms or conditions of employment.

Occupational Safety Protections

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), enforced by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), is the primary federal workplace safety law. It applies to private employers.

Colorado does not operate an OSHA-approved state plan. Federal OSHA standards protect most private-sector workers in Colorado. In addition to this federal-level protection, Colorado has enacted additional workplace safety requirements through the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) and statute, including protections for agricultural workers and specific heat illness guidance.

Colorado Labor Law Enforcement

Different government agencies oversee different types of state labor law issues. Different claims come with different filing deadlines.

Minimum Wage, Overtime, and Other Labor Law Violations

Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), Division of Labor Standards and Statistics (DLSS). Wage claims under the Colorado Wage Act are subject to a two-year statute of limitations (or three years for willful violations).

Claims Under the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act

Equal pay claims must be filed on a form provided by the DLSS. You can also file a private action in civil court. The civil action statute of limitations for Part 1 unequal pay claims is six years from the date of the violation (which resets with each noncomplying paycheck).

For Part 2 pay transparency/job posting violations, the civil action statute of limitations is two years (or three years for willful violations).

Workplace Discrimination and Harassment

The Colorado Civil Rights Division (CCRD) investigates workplace discrimination claims. A discrimination complaint with the CCRD generally must be filed within 300 days of the alleged discriminatory act.

Unemployment Claims

The CDLE’s Division of Unemployment Insurance handles these claims. While no hard deadline exists for filing an initial claim for unemployment insurance, claims are not retroactive. If you don’t file your claim immediately after your last day of work, you could lose out on potential benefits.

Work-Related Injuries

If you’re injured on the job, you’ll need to make a claim with the CDLE Division of Workers’ Compensation. A work-related injury prompts two deadlines:

1. You must notify your employer of a work-related injury within four days of the injury to receive compensation from the date of the injury. Failing to do so does not bar your claim, but may reduce the compensation period.

2. You must file a workers’ compensation claim generally within two years of the injury or, for a disease or repetitive strain injury, within two years of when you knew, or should have known, that the condition was work-related.

Tort Claims

Many employment-related tort claims, including personal injury claims and certain wrongful-termination-related tort claims, are subject to a two-year statute of limitations. The applicable deadline depends on the specific claim.

Related Topics

• Colorado Overtime Laws

• Colorado Civil Statute of Limitations Laws

• Colorado Legal Holidays and Holiday Pay Laws

Get a Lawyer’s Help

If you think your employment rights are being violated, it’s time to take action. Employees can file many employment claims directly with the enforcing agency or in civil court. Other claims must be filed in civil court.

In either case, meeting with a lawyer can help you understand your options and how to best protect your employment rights. Find a Colorado employment law attorney and get the help you need. Most employment law attorneys offer a free initial consultation. Find out what options might be available to you.