New Colorado Employment Laws in 2026 and What They Change for Employers

What changed for Colorado employers this year? Does it apply to a business my size? What do I actually need to do about it? Those are fair questions for any owner to ask, and the answers are spread across several official sources. This post lists the Colorado employment laws and rules that took effect in 2026, with the date of each, then what to update in your handbook and payroll, the dates to put on your calendar, and the laws already signed for 2027.

Several of this year's changes came through updated rules from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) rather than brand-new laws, and some of those rules put 2025 laws into practice. If you'd like the bigger picture of what applies to Colorado employers all year, my guide to Colorado employment law is a good place to start.

Laws taking effect in 2026

The changes below run in date order. Each one links to its official source, so you can check the details against your own business.

January 1, 2026: new minimum wage and salary figures

For 2026, the Colorado minimum wage is $15.16 per hour, up from $14.81 in 2025. Tipped team members can be paid $12.14 per hour for 2026 by taking a tip credit of up to $3.02, as long as their tips bring total pay up to the full minimum. The minimum salary for Colorado's executive, administrative and professional overtime exemptions is $57,784 a year for 2026 ($1,111.23 a week), up from $56,485 in 2025, and the role still has to meet the duties tests. CDLE's INFO #1 lists the 2026 figures, and my post on Colorado wage and hour laws explains how they work.

Some Colorado cities set their own, higher minimum wage, and you use the highest minimum wage that applies. Denver's is $19.29 per hour for 2026. A 2025 law also lets a city with a higher local minimum wage allow a bigger tip credit starting January 1, 2026, and CDLE's local minimum wage guidance lists Edgewater as the exception to the usual $3.02, with a tip credit of $4.67 per hour for 2026.

January 1, 2026: a lower FAMLI premium and Neonatal Care Leave

FAMLI, Colorado's state-run paid family and medical leave program, made two changes on January 1, 2026, both from a 2025 law. The premium dropped from 0.9% of wages to 0.88%, and parents whose newborns need intensive care can now take up to 12 weeks of paid Neonatal Care Leave, then may be eligible for 12 more weeks of other FAMLI leave, such as bonding leave, afterward. FAMLI's Neonatal Care Leave page explains how the new leave works.

For 2026, businesses with 10 or more employees send in the full 0.88% of wages each quarter, and businesses with nine or fewer send in 0.44%. Any employer can deduct up to 0.44% from team members' wages toward the total. Your size is based on how many people were on your payroll for 20 or more calendar workweeks in the previous calendar year, as FAMLI's 2026 premium update explains.

Calendar year 2026: a higher unemployment insurance wage base

Colorado unemployment insurance premiums are charged on each team member's wages up to a yearly limit, called the chargeable wage limit. For 2026, that limit is $30,600, up from $27,200 in 2025, so premiums now apply to more of the pay of anyone earning over $27,200 a year. Your premium rate itself comes from the annual Rate Notice CDLE mails each December, and the CDLE premiums page has the current tables.

February 1, 2026: COMPS Order #40

The COMPS Order is the state rulebook for minimum wage, overtime, breaks and pay records. The current version, COMPS Order #40, took effect on February 1, 2026, and two changes stand out for small employers:

• PTO and sick leave records: you now keep records of the vacation or PTO hours each team member has earned, used and has available in the current benefit year, plus paid sick leave hours if you track those separately. When a team member asks, you give them their vacation information in writing or electronically, and they can ask once a month, or more often if your policy allows.
• Owners as employers: a 2025 law changed the Colorado Wage Act's definition of "employer" to include anyone who owns or controls at least 25% of a business, unless a minority owner shows they've fully handed off control of day-to-day operations. COMPS Order #40 now uses that definition.

February 1, 2026: updated Wage Protection Rules for sick leave pay

Colorado's updated Wage Protection Rules, in effect since February 1, 2026, clarify how to pay sick leave under Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act. If a team member works at more than one rate, including shift differentials, you pay the rate they would have earned during the leave. If their pay isn't reduced when they use sick leave, as with a team member paid only a salary, they don't earn extra pay just for using it. Only when the rate for the leave is unknown do you work it out from their pay over the 30 calendar days before the leave, leaving out overtime premiums, bonuses and holiday pay. My post on Colorado paid sick leave walks through the rest of the law.

February 1, 2026: new rules for employing minors

If you employ anyone under 18, Colorado's new Youth Employment Standards Rules took effect on February 1, 2026. They define the hazardous jobs and duties minors can't do, including work with certain power-driven machinery, welding equipment and paper balers, and set out how CDLE handles complaints. They also tie the reduced minimum wage for minors to following the youth employment law: minors who aren't emancipated can be paid 15% below the full Colorado minimum wage, which is $12.89 per hour for 2026, but an employer that's out of compliance with the youth employment law can't use the lower rate. The lower rate doesn't apply where a local minimum wage applies, with one exception: Denver allows it only for unemancipated minors in city-certified youth employment programs, as CDLE's local minimum wage guidance explains. CDLE's youth employment page links to the rules.

July 1, 2026: larger wage claims through CDLE

A 2025 law raised the size of unpaid wage claims CDLE accepts through its own complaint process. For claims filed from July 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027, CDLE accepts wage complaints of up to $13,000 per team member, up from $7,500, under the updated Wage Protection Rules. That's a good reason to make sure final pay, PTO payouts and overtime are right the first time.

What to update in your handbook

Most of this year's changes touch a handbook somewhere. I review handbooks at least once a year and any time a law or your business changes, and 2026 gives you a few reasons to open yours:

• The COMPS poster: if you hand out a handbook or written policies, they have to include a copy of the current COMPS Order or poster, and if team members sign for the handbook, they sign for the poster too. Swap in the 2026 version.
• FAMLI: if your handbook explains FAMLI, add Neonatal Care Leave and update the premium to 0.88% of wages for 2026.
• PTO and sick leave: spell out how team members can ask for their leave balances, and check that your sick pay language matches the updated Wage Protection Rules.
• Work for minors: if you hire team members under 18, check the duties in their job descriptions against the Youth Employment Standards Rules.

A short handbook can cover these changes, as long as it matches how your business actually runs and stays current when the rules change. That's easier when someone owns the yearly review.

What to update in payroll

I don't process payroll, but I do help with wage and hour compliance and with choosing a payroll provider. Whoever runs your payroll, confirm these 2026 settings:

• Pay rates: everyone at or above $15.16 per hour for 2026, or the local minimum wage where it's higher, and tipped team members at $12.14 per hour for 2026 only when tips bring them up to the full minimum.
• Exempt salaries: every exempt role paid at least $57,784 a year for 2026, with duties that meet the exemption tests.
• FAMLI: 0.88% of wages for businesses with 10 or more employees, 0.44% for nine or fewer, with no more than 0.44% deducted from team members' pay.
• Unemployment insurance: the $30,600 chargeable wage limit for 2026.
• Leave balances: PTO and sick leave hours tracked for the current benefit year, so you can answer a balance request.
• Sick leave pay: the rate rules from the updated Wage Protection Rules built into how sick time is paid.

If your payroll provider updates the rates automatically, it's still worth a quick check. A provider generally won't know whether your exempt roles meet the duties tests or how your PTO policy works, and both affect what you owe.

Dates to put on your calendar

Some of the yearly dates have already passed this year and will come around again. These are the ones still ahead:

• October 31: third-quarter FAMLI premiums and wage reports are due. FAMLI payments are due on the last day of the month after each quarter ends.
• November 2, 2026: CDLE holds a public hearing on its proposed new COMPS Order and 2027 PAY CALC Order, planned to take effect January 1, 2027. They're proposals, not final rules, so I'd wait for the adopted versions before changing anything.
• December: CDLE releases the COMPS poster for the coming year, and your unemployment insurance Rate Notice arrives in the mail.
• January 1, 2027: the 2027 minimum wage and salary figures are planned to take effect, and Colorado's law on automated decision-making technology begins.
• January 31: fourth-quarter FAMLI premiums and wage reports are due.
• February 28: update your FAMLI employee headcount. FAMLI requires this every year by February 28, and if you miss it, FAMLI assumes you have 10 or more employees and you send in the full premium every quarter that year.
• July 1, 2027: businesses with 100 or more workers start including EEO-1 data in their periodic reports to the Colorado Secretary of State.

Coming in 2027

Two laws signed in 2026 already have 2027 start dates. Neither one changes anything for you this year, and it helps to know about both now.

Automated decision-making technology (January 1, 2027)

Colorado's law on automated decision-making technology was signed on May 14, 2026. It takes effect on January 1, 2027 and applies to decisions made on or after that date. It covers technology used to materially influence important decisions about people, employment is one of the areas it covers, and team members, along with job applicants who live in Colorado, count as consumers under it. If a tool like that shapes your hiring, pay or other employment decisions, you'll need to tell people clearly beforehand, and if a decision goes against someone, explain within 30 days the role the tool played and how they can ask for more information.

Tools used only to summarize, organize or present information for a person to review, without producing a score, ranking or recommendation, generally fall outside the law. Starting January 1, 2027, the companies that build covered tools have to give the businesses using them documentation on how to use them, so it's worth asking your vendor what they'll provide. The new law repeals and reenacts the artificial intelligence protections Colorado passed in 2024.

EEO-1 data reports (July 1, 2027)

Starting July 1, 2027, private businesses in Colorado with 100 or more workers that were required to file the federal EEO-1 report as of March 1, 2026 must include that EEO-1 data in their periodic report to the Colorado Secretary of State. The requirement stays in place even if the federal government drops the EEO-1. If your team is under 100, this one won't apply to you yet, and my HR Headcount & Growth Milestones Toolkit shows what applies at each team size, with federal and Colorado requirements side by side.

Keeping up with yearly changes is a lot to ask of an owner who's already running the business. Which Colorado laws apply to you, and what to do about them, is the kind of question I help with through HR Foundations & Compliance. It starts with a conversation, and from there I give you a short, practical ranked list of what to fix first. You're not behind for asking.