When your final paycheck is due in Colorado
In Colorado, if you are fired or laid off, your final paycheck is due immediately; if the payroll unit is not open, within 6 hours after its next workday starts (24 hours if payroll is off-site). If you quit, it is due on the next regular payday.
- Fired or laid off
- Immediately; if the payroll unit is not open, within 6 hours after its next workday starts (24 hours if payroll is off-site)
- If you quit
- Next regular payday
- If the employer pays late
- If the employer does not pay within 14 days after a written demand, it owes the greater of 2 times the unpaid wages or $1,000 (3 times or $3,000 if willful).
- Filing a wage claim
- File a wage claim with the Colorado Division of Labor Standards and Statistics (CDLE).
The final check must be made available at the work site, the employer’s local office, or mailed to the employee’s last known address.
The law
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-4-109. Read the statute or the state agency’s page.
Checked in October 2026 against a published copy of the statute, because the official code site was unavailable. Laws change, so confirm the current rule before you rely on it.
What to do next
If the deadline has passed, ask for the wages in writing first and keep a copy. The free first letter in the Wage Claim Letters kit does this. If that doesn’t work, file a wage claim with the agency listed above. The final paycheck lookup compares states side by side.
Other states
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
General information about Colorado law, not legal advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Wage Claim Letters is a self-help template kit from Kits For That.