Colorado Labor Guidance
Free plain-English summaries of opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices from Colorado's labor agency, with the current status and the official source on every page.
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Reporting Required by Supplemental Healthcare Staffing Agencies
This Division notice explains a reporting duty under C.R.S. 8-4-125: supplemental healthcare staffing agencies (temp agencies that place workers like nurses and therapists with healthcare facilities) …
Prohibited and Permitted Duties for Minors
This Division notice, a companion to INFO #22A, lists what work minors under 18 may and may not perform under the Colorado Youth Employment Opportunity Act (CYEOA) and federal law: per se hazardous du…
Employment of Minors, Minimum Wages, Hours, Exemptions, Fines, and Procedures
This Division notice explains rules under the Colorado Youth Employment Opportunity Act (CYEOA) for employing minors: employers may pay most non-emancipated minors 85% of the state minimum wage (never…
Access to Personal Social Media — Colorado Social Media and the Workplace Law
This Division notice explains Colorado's Social Media and the Workplace Law: employers can't ask employees or applicants to hand over social media logins, change privacy settings, or add the employer …
Accessing Consumer Credit Information — The Colorado Employment Opportunity Act
This Division notice explains the Colorado Employment Opportunity Act: employers with 4+ employees generally can't request or use an applicant's or employee's consumer credit information (credit score…
Limits on Criminal History Screening of Applicants — Colorado Chance to Compete Act
This Division notice explains Colorado's Chance to Compete Act, a "ban the box" law: employers can't ask about or require disclosure of an applicant's criminal history on an initial job application, o…
Restrictions on Age Information in Job Applications — Job Application Fairness Act (JAFA)
This Division notice explains the Job Application Fairness Act (JAFA), effective July 1, 2024: employers can't ask a job applicant's age, birth date, or school attendance/graduation dates on an initia…
Summary: Required and Prohibited Information in Job Postings and the Hiring Process
This short Division notice is a roadmap to Colorado's "Posting, Screening, and Transparency" (POST) laws governing job postings and hiring: pay/job-opportunity transparency (INFO #9A), a ban on asking…
Paid Sick Leave under the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA)
This is the Division's detailed, actively-updated guidance on paid leave under Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA): which employers and employees are covered, how the 1-hour-per-30-h…
Labor Conditions for Agricultural Work: Heat Protection; Short-Handled Tool & Hand-Weeding/Thinning Limits; Public Health Emergency Protections
This Division notice details Colorado agricultural workers' heat safety protections (water, shade, extra rest breaks, and annual training/monitoring obligations once it's 80 degrees or hotter, with st…
Appealing a determination after the investigation
This Division notice explains how a claimant or employer appeals a wage claim determination: the 35-day filing deadline, what filing an appeal does and doesn't stay, how to submit new evidence and req…
Summary: the Division wage claim investigation, appeals, and enforcement process
This short Division notice is a roadmap to the wage-claim process: how the Division investigates a complaint of unpaid wages (with a $7,500 cap on what it can order), the penalties and fines that can …
Commissions and Bonuses
This Division notice explains when Colorado employers must pay commissions and bonuses: they must be earned, owed under the terms of the agreement, and determinable in amount, and can't be waived once…
Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Parents
This Division notice summarizes nursing employees' rights to pump at work under Colorado's Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act and the federal PUMP Act: required unpaid or paid break time…
Timing of Wage Payments, & Required Record-Keeping
This Division notice explains when Colorado employers must pay wages: regular pay periods and paydays, the strict deadlines for paying out all wages when an employee is fired, laid off, or quits, and …
Tips (Gratuities) and Tipped Employees Under Colorado Wage Law
This Division notice explains how Colorado law protects employee tips and when employers may pay tipped employees less than full minimum wage using a "tip credit." It covers the current tip-credit amo…
Local Minimum Wages
This Division notice explains how Colorado local governments (cities, towns, counties, and combined city-counties) may adopt a local minimum wage higher than the state minimum wage: the annual 15% inc…
Overtime and Minimum Wage Obligations for Agricultural Employment
This Division notice explains minimum wage ($15.16/hour in 2026, or a range-worker weekly salary) and overtime pay obligations for Colorado agricultural employers under the ALRRA and COMPS Order. Most…
Summary: Requirements of the Agricultural Labor Rights & Responsibilities Act (ALRRA)
This short Division notice is a roadmap to Colorado's Agricultural Labor Rights & Responsibilities Act (ALRRA): minimum wage and overtime rules, rest and meal breaks, worksite access to key service pr…
Key wage and hour rights under Colorado's COMPS and PAY CALC Orders
This annually-updated Division notice summarizes the core wage-and-hour rights and obligations under Colorado's Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards ("COMPS") Order and its yearly PAY CALC wage figures:…
Transportation Network Companies (TNCs): Driver Rights and Labor Transparency
This Division notice explains the Transportation Network Company Transparency Act, which covers rideshare platforms ("TNCs"). It requires TNCs to disclose pay, time, and distance for each ride offer a…
Meal and Rest Periods
This Division notice explains Colorado's meal- and rest-period rules under the COMPS Order: a duty-free 30-minute meal period for shifts over 5 hours (paid if truly impractical to relieve the employee…
Orders of wages, penalties, fines, and consequences for non-compliance
This Division notice details the penalties an employer owes an employee and fines it owes the state for unpaid wages, how the amounts scale with whether the violation was "willful" (with detailed case…
Worker Classification: Who Is and Isn't an "Employee" Protected by Labor Standards Laws?
This Division notice explains how Colorado decides whether a worker is a protected "employee" or an independent contractor under the Colorado Wage Act's definition, regardless of how a business labels…
Individual Liability under the Colorado Wage Act and Healthy Families and Workplaces Act
This Division notice explains when an individual person, not just the employer business, can be personally liable for unpaid wages under the Colorado Wage Act and Healthy Families and Workplaces Act: …
The wage claim investigation process
This Division notice walks through the mechanics of a wage-claim investigation step by step: who may file (including misclassified independent contractors and workers regardless of immigration status)…
Deductions from, and Credits towards, Employee Pay
This Division notice explains that Colorado employers may deduct from wages only in five lawful categories (legally required deductions, written-agreement deductions primarily benefiting the employee,…
Agricultural Employee Rest Periods, Meal Periods, and Service Provider Access
This Division notice details Colorado agricultural workers' rest and meal period rights (paid 10-15 minute rest breaks every 4 hours, 30-minute meal breaks in shifts over 5 hours), additional paid and…
The Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act ("COBCA")
This Division notice explains the Collective Bargaining by County Employees Act (COBCA), effective July 1, 2023, which gives most Colorado county employees (including county sheriff employees) the rig…
Equal Pay by Sex: The Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, Part 1
This Division notice covers Part 1 of Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act: employers can't pay employees of different sexes differently for substantially similar work unless a specific, fully-expl…
Speech and Organizing Rights for Government Employees under the Protections for Public Workers Act ("PROPWA")
This Division notice, with over 30 examples, explains the free speech, advocacy, and organizing rights of Colorado state and local government employees under the Protections for Public Workers Act (PR…
Enforcement: Scope of Coverage; Notice of Rights; Protected Activity & Retaliation; Complaints & Remedies
This Division notice explains who is covered by Colorado's Agricultural Labor Rights & Responsibilities Act (which employers, employees, range workers, and other protected parties), the notice-of-righ…
Delivery Network Companies (DNCs): Driver Rights and Labor Transparency
This Division notice explains the Protections for Delivery Network Company Drivers Act, which covers app-based delivery platforms ("DNCs") like food-delivery apps. It requires DNCs to disclose pay, ti…
Transparency in Pay and Job Opportunities: The Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, Part 2
This detailed Division notice covers Part 2 of Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, the nation's first job-posting pay-transparency law: employers must disclose compensation, benefits, and how/whe…
Payment of Earned Vacation upon Separation of Employment
This Division notice explains that Colorado employers who offer paid vacation must pay out all earned, unused vacation pay when an employee's job ends, and that no policy or agreement can forfeit alre…
Prevailing Wage and Apprenticeship Program Requirements for Public Projects
This Division notice explains prevailing-wage rights for workers on Colorado state-funded public projects of $500,000 or more: paying market-rate wages and benefits, weekly pay, apprenticeship-program…
Complaints, Investigations, and Remedies as to Retaliation or Interference
This Division notice explains how retaliation and interference claims are filed and investigated, and what remedies are available. It covers which claim types can go to the Division versus require fil…
Compliance Duties: Notify Workers of Their Rights; No Unlawful Waivers or Restrictions
This Division notice explains two employer compliance duties: never requiring workers to waive labor rights or agree not to discuss wages or workplace safety, and affirmatively notifying workers of th…
What's "Retaliation" or "Interference": What Activity Is Protected? What Acts Are Illegal?
This Division notice explains what employee activity is legally protected from retaliation or interference (paid-sick-leave requests, health/safety whistleblowing and PPE use, and wage-and- hour compl…
Summary: Retaliation or Interference Against Exercising Labor Rights
This short Division notice is a roadmap to the "INFO #5 series" on Colorado's retaliation and interference protections: what counts as protected activity (claiming wage or leave rights, raising safety…
What Travel Time and Sleep Time Is and Isn't "Time Worked" That Must Be Paid
This Division notice explains when travel time and sleep time count as paid "time worked" under Colorado law. Sleep time of 5-8 continuous hours can be excluded from pay only under specific conditions…
What's Owed for "Time Worked" for Different Types of Pay, Hourly and Non-Hourly
This Division notice explains how the duty to pay for all "time worked" applies across different pay structures: hourly rates, salaries, commissions, and piece rates. It states that Colorado requires …
What Is and Isn't "Time Worked" That Must Be Paid under Colorado Law
This Division notice details Colorado's broader-than-federal definition of "time worked" under COMPS Rule 1.9: work an employer benefited from or permitted, required on-premises time, and the "continu…
Summary: "Time Worked" That Must Be Paid under Colorado Law
This Division notice summarizes when time counts as paid "time worked" under Colorado law: performing work an employer benefited from or permitted, required on-premises time, the "continuous workday" …
Differences & Overlap Between HFWA and FAMLI Paid Leave
This Division notice explains how Colorado's two paid-leave laws interact: HFWA gives accrued hourly leave (up to 48 hrs/year) for a broad set of health, safety, and family-care needs, while FAMLI giv…
Summary: Paid Leave under Colorado's Healthy Families & Workplaces Act (HFWA)
This short Division notice summarizes Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA): employees accrue one hour of paid leave per 30 hours worked (up to 48 hours/year) for a wide range of healt…
Permissible and Impermissible Methods of Payment
This Division notice explains what forms of pay, and payment methods, satisfy the Colorado Wage Act's requirement that wages be negotiable, payable on demand, and without discount. It covers cash, che…
Summary: "Wages" and "Compensation" under Colorado Wage Law
This short Division notice is a roadmap to the "INFO #3 series" on Colorado wage law: what counts as protected "wages or compensation" (hourly pay, salaries, piece-rate, bonuses, commissions, vacation…
Enforcement: certified copies, administrative liens and levies
This Division notice explains the two tools DLSS uses to collect on unpaid wage orders once an employer hasn't paid within 60 days: filing a certified copy of the order as a court judgment, and issuin…
Labor Relations Rules and Procedures Under Colorado State Law
This Division notice covers labor-management relations under two Colorado laws: the Labor Peace Act (private-sector employees not covered by the federal NLRA, like agriculture, plus mass-transit worke…
Paid Leave under HFWA through Dec. 31, 2020 (COVID-19 categories)
This Division notice details Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA) as it applied through December 31, 2020: employers had to give up to two weeks' paid leave for three COVID-19-specifi…
The executive, administrative, and professional exemptions from COMPS
This Division notice details the duties tests for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional ("EAP") exemptions from Colorado's COMPS wage-and-hour Order, which the Division construes narrowly an…
Browse Colorado guidance by topic
These are official interpretive documents from Colorado's labor agency: opinion letters answering questions from employers and workers, administrative policies, and interpretive notices. They show how the agency applies wage-and-hour and workplace law to real situations, but they are guidance, not statutes or court decisions, and the agency can supersede or withdraw them. Every page above shows the document's current status, when that status was last verified, and a link to the official source.