Employment Contract - At-Will

AT-WILL EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

Colorado hiring agreement

This At-Will Employment Agreement (the “Agreement”) is entered into as of [__/__/____] by and between:

• Employer: [EMPLOYER LEGAL NAME], a [ENTITY TYPE], with an address at [EMPLOYER ADDRESS] (“Employer”); and
• Employee: [EMPLOYEE LEGAL NAME], residing at [EMPLOYEE ADDRESS] (“Employee”).

Employer and Employee are each a “Party” and together the “Parties.”

1. Position and Employment Status

1.1 Position. Employer employs Employee as [JOB TITLE], reporting to [SUPERVISOR/TITLE], beginning [__/__/____].

1.2 Work Location and Schedule. The primary work location is [ADDRESS / REMOTE-WORK LOCATION]. The anticipated schedule is [DAYS/HOURS]. The established workday and workweek are:

• Workday: [START TIME] through [END TIME]
• Workweek: [DAY/TIME] through [DAY/TIME], a fixed 168-hour period

1.3 Duties. Employee will perform the duties in Exhibit A, comply with lawful instructions and written policies, and promptly disclose actual conflicts of interest.

1.4 At-Will Relationship. Employment is at will. Subject to applicable law, any collective bargaining agreement, and the payment obligations in this Agreement, either Party may end employment at any time, with or without cause or advance notice.

1.5 No Fixed Term. A start date, salary, review cycle, bonus opportunity, or anticipated schedule does not create employment for a fixed term. Any commitment to termination only for cause or for a specified term must be stated expressly in a separate writing signed by Employee and [AUTHORIZED EMPLOYER OFFICER].

1.6 Lawful Reasons Only. Nothing in this Agreement authorizes discrimination, retaliation, interference with protected leave or wage rights, or another termination prohibited by law.

2. Compensation, Payroll, and Records

2.1 Compensation Terms

2.2 Minimum Wage. The Colorado minimum wage is $15.16 per hour in 2026. Employer will apply any higher local, federal, industry-specific, contractual, or other applicable wage.

2.3 Overtime. Unless a valid exemption or industry-specific rule applies, Employer will pay one and one-half times the regular rate for hours over forty in a workweek, over twelve in a workday, or over twelve consecutive hours. The same hour will not receive more than one overtime premium solely because it qualifies under multiple tests.

2.4 Salary Does Not Decide Exemption. Salary compensation does not by itself establish an exemption. Employer must document and periodically review the applicable COMPS and federal salary-basis, salary-level, duties, coverage, and industry requirements. The 2026 COMPS executive, administrative, and professional salary threshold is $1,111.23 per week ($57,784 annualized), subject to all duties and other requirements and future adjustment.

2.5 Pay Periods and Paydays. Regular pay periods may not exceed one calendar month or thirty days, whichever is longer. The regular payday will be no later than ten days after the pay period closes. Employer will post or electronically provide the required payday notice.

2.6 Hours and Records. Employee will accurately record all hours worked and will not perform off-the-clock work. Employer remains responsible for paying for all compensable time, providing an itemized earning statement each pay period, and retaining required wage-and-hour records for at least three years and longer while a related claim is pending.

2.7 Prospective Pay Changes. Any change in a rate of pay will be communicated and agreed before the affected work is performed. No earned wage will be retroactively reduced.

2.8 Deductions. Employer may make only deductions authorized by C.R.S. § 8-4-105 and other applicable law. A property, breakage, shortage, advance, or other claimed debt will not be deducted unless all statutory conditions are satisfied.

2.9 Optional Compensation. Employee may be eligible for the following only under the identified controlling written plan:

• ☐ Discretionary bonus: [PLAN/TERMS]
• ☐ Commission: [ATTACH COMMISSION PLAN]
• ☐ Equity award: [ATTACH PLAN/GRANT]
• ☐ Other: [DESCRIPTION]

Each plan should state how compensation is computed, when it is earned and determinable, and when it is payable after separation.

3. Benefits, Paid Leave, Vacation, and Expenses

3.1 Benefit Plans. Employee may participate in plans for which Employee is eligible, subject to the controlling plan documents. Employer may amend or discontinue a plan only as permitted by those documents and applicable law.

3.2 Colorado Paid Sick Leave. Employer will provide paid sick leave meeting the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act and its current rules. Covered employees accrue one hour of paid leave for every thirty hours worked, beginning on the first day of work, up to forty-eight hours per benefit year. Up to forty-eight unused hours carry forward, although annual use may be limited to forty-eight hours. Accrued leave is available for immediate use. Employer will maintain a compliant policy addressing covered reasons, notice, documentation, pay, confidentiality, records, posting, written notice, and anti-retaliation.

3.3 Vacation and General PTO. Vacation, holiday, and severance benefits, if offered, are governed by [POLICY/PLAN NAME AND DATE]. Employer may set prospective accrual and use terms, including a reasonable accrual cap, but no policy will forfeit earned and determinable vacation pay. At separation, Employer will pay all earned and determinable unused vacation or general-purpose PTO that qualifies as vacation pay. Unused HFWA leave is not payable solely because employment ends.

3.4 Business Expenses. Employer will reimburse authorized and properly documented business expenses under [EXPENSE POLICY NAME]. The policy should address remote-work costs, mileage, travel, required tools, approval, documentation, and payment timing without using an unlawful wage deduction.

3.5 Protected Rights. Nothing in this Agreement limits legally protected leave, accommodation, benefit, wage, safety, workers’ compensation, unemployment, organizing, reporting, or anti-retaliation rights.

4. Confidential Information and Work Product

4.1 Confidential Information. Employee will use Employer’s nonpublic business information only for authorized work and protect it from unauthorized disclosure. This duty does not prohibit disclosure or use of:

• information arising from Employee’s general training, knowledge, skill, or experience;
• information readily ascertainable to the public; or
• information Employee has a right to disclose as legally protected conduct.

4.2 Protected Activity. Nothing prohibits Employee from discussing wages or working conditions, engaging in protected concerted activity, reporting suspected violations, participating in an investigation, making a legally protected disclosure, or receiving a government award where permitted.

4.3 Work Product. To the extent permitted by law, Employee assigns to Employer work product created within the scope of employment or using Employer resources. Preexisting works listed in Exhibit B and works created entirely outside the scope of employment without Employer resources or confidential information are excluded unless separately assigned.

4.4 No Embedded Restrictive Covenant. This Agreement does not impose a post-employment noncompetition or customer, worker, or contractor nonsolicitation covenant. Any proposed restrictive covenant must be separately drafted and reviewed under the current version of C.R.S. § 8-2-113, including its coverage, trade-secret, compensation-threshold, health-care, notice, document-format, choice-of-law, venue, and remedy provisions.

5. Separation and Final Pay

5.1 Notice of Separation. A Party ending employment should give written notice stating the effective date, although advance notice is not required for an at-will separation unless another binding agreement or law requires it.

5.2 Employer Discharge or Layoff. If Employer discharges or lays off Employee, earned, vested, and determinable wages are due immediately. If the payroll unit is not regularly scheduled to be operational, Employer will comply with the six-hour or off-site twenty-four-hour timing alternatives in C.R.S. § 8-4-109.

5.3 Employee Resignation. If Employee resigns, earned, vested, and determinable wages are due by the next regular payday.

5.4 Final-Pay Components. Final pay will include earned wages and all earned and determinable vacation pay and will address commissions, bonuses, and other compensation under the controlling written plan and applicable law. Unused HFWA leave will be treated under Section 3.3.

5.5 Property Audit. If Employer invokes the limited statutory audit process for property or money entrusted to Employee, Employer will give the required notice, limit any deduction to what C.R.S. § 8-4-105 permits, and complete the audit within the statutory period. Otherwise, a property dispute will not delay final wages.

5.6 No Wage Waiver. No release, handbook term, damages clause, or property-return condition waives or modifies Employee’s rights to wages due under the Colorado Wage Act.

5.7 Continuing Terms. Section 4 and this Section 5 survive only to the extent their subject matter requires and the provision remains lawful.

6. General Terms

6.1 No Employee Indemnity or Employer Liability Cap. This Agreement does not require Employee to indemnify Employer for ordinary work conduct, cap Employer’s wage or employment-law liability, waive statutory remedies, shift Employer’s legal compliance duties, or impose prevailing-party fees.

6.2 Policies and Plans. Written policies and plan documents supplement this Agreement but do not alter at-will status unless a signed writing expressly says otherwise. A controlling benefit-plan document governs plan administration to the extent permitted by law.

6.3 Governing Law and Forum. Colorado law governs. Subject to any separately executed and enforceable arbitration agreement, an action relating to this Agreement may be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in [COUNTY], Colorado.

6.4 Arbitration and Waivers. No arbitration, jury waiver, class waiver, fee-shifting, or prevailing-party clause is created by this Agreement. Any proposed dispute-resolution agreement must be separate, counsel-reviewed, and signed by both Parties.

6.5 Entire Agreement. This Agreement and its identified exhibits are the complete agreement on the subjects they address and supersede prior statements on those subjects without waiving nonwaivable rights.

6.6 Amendment. An amendment must be in writing and signed by both Parties, except a lawful prospective compensation, policy, or plan change may be made through the notice or procedure identified above.

6.7 Severability. If a provision is unenforceable, it will be severed or narrowed only to the extent a court permits, without expanding any restraint on Employee.

6.8 Electronic Signatures. Counterparts and electronic signatures may be used to the extent permitted by law.

7. Acknowledgments and Signatures

By signing, each Party acknowledges that the compensation and payroll terms in Section 2 are complete and that Employee received:

• ☐ Job description (Exhibit A)
• ☐ Preexisting works list (Exhibit B)
• ☐ Current COMPS Order poster/notice
• ☐ HFWA written notice and paid-leave policy
• ☐ Vacation/PTO policy
• ☐ Commission, bonus, or equity plan identified above
• ☐ Employee handbook
• ☐ Other required notices: [LIST]

Exhibit A — Job Description

[INSERT POSITION DUTIES, ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS, REPORTING RELATIONSHIP, WORK LOCATION, AND SCHEDULE.]

Exhibit B — Preexisting Works

☐ None.

☐ The following items are excluded from the assignment in Section 4.3:

[LIST EACH PREEXISTING WORK.]

Sources and References

• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, INFO #5A, Retaliation Protections and employment-at-will: https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/INFO%20%235A%20Retaliation%20Protections%2002.15.2024%20accessible.pdf
• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, INFO #3A, Timing of Wage Payments and Required Record-Keeping (Jan. 9, 2026): https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/info_%233a_timing_of_wage_payments%2C_%26_required_record-keeping_1.9.2026.pdf
• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, 2026 COMPS Order poster: https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/2026_comps_order_poster_english_%5Baccessible%5D.pdf
• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, 2026 PAY CALC Order, 7 CCR 1103-14: https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/adopted_2026_pay_calc_order_7_ccr_1103-14_12.8.25.pdf
• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, INFO #6B, Paid Sick Leave under HFWA (Feb. 27, 2026): https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/info_%236b_rights_and_obligations_under_hfwa_2.27.2026.pdf
• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, INFO #3E, Payment of Earned Vacation upon Separation: https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/info_%233e_payment_of_earned_vacation_upon_separation_of_employment_05.29.24.pdf
• Colorado General Assembly, 2024 Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 8: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2024-title-08.pdf
• Colorado General Assembly, House Bill 22-1317, restrictive-covenant framework and notice requirements: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2022a_1317_signed.pdf
• Colorado General Assembly, Senate Bill 25-083, 2025 Colo. Sess. Laws ch. 366: https://leg.colorado.gov/laws/session-laws/SB25-083/366/download
• National Labor Relations Board, Employee Rights: https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/employee-rights