Lactation Break and Space Requirements in Colorado

At a glance

Colorado covers every employer and lasts two years

The Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act applies to a person in business with one or more employees and expressly includes the State and its political subdivisions. C.R.S. § 8-13.5-104(1) requires reasonable unpaid break time or permission to use paid break time, meal time, or both, each day to express milk for up to two years after birth.

Colorado's daily-time language differs from federal § 218d(a), which requires reasonable time each time needed but lasts for one year. During the first year, both apply and the more protective requirement controls. Colorado then extends its daily-break protection through the child's second year.

Space requires reasonable efforts measured by hardship

C.R.S. § 8-13.5-104(2) requires reasonable efforts toward a room or other private location close to the work area, other than a toilet stall. “Reasonable efforts” means effort that does not impose undue hardship. The hardship test looks to significant difficulty or expense in relation to business size, financial resources, nature and structure, and special public-safety circumstances.

An employer that makes reasonable efforts is deemed compliant under § 8-13.5-104(3). That qualification applies to the accommodation effort; the statute does not create a general headcount exemption from the daily time duty.

Colorado bars a toilet stall. Federal law goes further during its one-year window by excluding the entire bathroom and requiring the place to be shielded from view and free from coworker and public intrusion.

The state statute has no equipment checklist

Colorado's Act does not prescribe a chair, pump surface, outlet, sink, running water, refrigerator, cooler, cleaning standard, hazard rule, lock, sign, temporary/shared-space priority, or availability schedule. CDLE's INFO #7 separately explains federal functional-space expectations; those should not be relabeled as Colorado statutory equipment duties.

Additional off-duty time may be unpaid

The Colorado statute expressly permits reasonable unpaid pumping time or use of paid break or meal time. CDLE explains that regularly paid break time used to pump remains paid and that salaried pay may not be reduced because of the break. A pumping break may be unpaid only when the employee is completely relieved from duty.

Federal § 218d(b) independently treats the entire break as hours worked if the employee is not completely relieved. A contract, collective-bargaining agreement, employer policy, or another wage rule may also require pay.

Mediation comes before a Colorado lawsuit

The Act prescribes no special request words, written form, advance-notice period, response deadline, written denial, interactive process, handbook, poster, employee notice, or recordkeeping duty.

Before an employee may litigate a violation, § 8-13.5-104(5) requires nonbinding mediation between employer and employee. CDLE states that it does not accept Act claims or administer that mediation; employees may file in court after mediation. The Act does not specify the court, limitations period, damages, civil penalty, attorney fees, cure period, or a separate operative retaliation standard. Federal enforcement and remedies remain separate.

What trips people up

Colorado's two-year right is longer but not worded “each time needed.” The state promises reasonable time “each day.” Federal law supplies the explicit each-time-needed standard during the first year.

Reasonable effort is a defined space limitation. The employer is deemed compliant after reasonable efforts, with hardship measured by significant difficulty or expense. It is not an automatic exemption based only on employer size.

CDLE information is not an administrative claim route. The statute directs the department to publish information, but CDLE says it does not enforce the Act or administer the required mediation.

Common questions

Must Colorado pumping breaks be paid?

Not every additional break. Colorado allows reasonable unpaid time or use of paid break or meal time. Time remains paid when an ordinary paid break is used, the employee continues working, salary rules apply, or another agreement or law requires compensation.

Can the pumping room be a restroom without a toilet stall?

Colorado expressly bars a toilet stall, while federal law bars the entire bathroom during its one-year coverage window. A restroom therefore does not satisfy the federal floor even if the pumping area is separated from the stall.

Where does an employee file a Colorado Act claim?

CDLE says it does not accept these claims. The employee may file in court only after nonbinding employer-employee mediation; the Act does not identify a department-run mediation or special court procedure.

Statutes and sources

• C.R.S. §§ 8-13.5-103 and 8-13.5-104 — coverage, hardship, time, space, reasonable-effort compliance, information, and mediation.

  An employer shall provide reasonable unpaid break time or permit an employee to use paid break time, meal time, or both, each day ... for up to two years after the child's birth.

Official source: https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-08.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21) - Colorado Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, INFO #7 — official interpretation of pay and the court/mediation route.

Employees can file claims in court ... but only after nonbinding employer- employee mediation.

Official source: https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/INFO%20%237%20Workplace%20Accommodations%20for%20Nursing%20Mothers%2009.05.23%20accessible.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21) - 29 U.S.C. § 218d(a), (b), and (h) — federal time, space, pay, and greater- protection rules.

a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public

Official source: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title29-section218d&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-21)