Colorado is one of the few states with a daily overtime rule. Under the Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards (COMPS) Order, a non-exempt employee must be paid 1.5 times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, over 12 in a single workday, or over 12 consecutive hours (regardless of when the workday starts and ends) - whichever calculation produces the greater amount of overtime pay. This goes well beyond the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which only requires overtime after 40 hours in a week and has no daily overtime rule at all.
How Colorado Overtime Actually Works
The controlling rule is not a statute you will find in one tidy sentence - it is the COMPS Order, a regulation reissued annually by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), Division of Labor Standards and Statistics. The COMPS Order replaced the older "Colorado Minimum Wage Order" and now sets minimum wage, overtime, breaks, and exemption rules for most private-sector workers in the state.
The key feature is the three-part overtime trigger. Your employer must pay time-and-a-half when you exceed any of these thresholds:
- 40 hours in a workweek (the same as the federal floor);
- 12 hours in a single workday; or
- 12 consecutive hours worked, without regard to whether those hours fall in the same calendar workday.
Because these can overlap, the COMPS Order says you get whichever computation results in the greater payment of wages - the employer cannot pick the cheaper method. The hours are not stacked or double-counted; you simply compare the totals and the larger overtime figure controls.
A practical example: if you work four 13-hour days in one week (52 hours total), you are owed daily overtime for the hour past 12 on each of those days and weekly overtime for hours past 40 - calculated under the method that pays you more. A worker on the standard federal-only rule would receive far less, because federal law ignores the long individual days entirely.
The Overtime Rate and the "Regular Rate"
Overtime in Colorado is paid at 1.5x your regular rate of pay. The "regular rate" is not always just your base hourly wage - it generally includes nondiscretionary bonuses, shift differentials, and commissions, which can raise the rate on which overtime is calculated. Colorado does not require "double time" for any hours; the multiplier is one-and-a-half, the same factor used under federal law.
Colorado's minimum wage is also higher than the federal $7.25. The state constitution adjusts the minimum wage for inflation every January 1. As of 2026, confirm the exact current figure with CDLE - it sits well above the federal minimum (it was $14.81 per hour in 2025 and rises annually). Some localities, such as Denver, set an even higher local minimum wage. Because these numbers change every year, do not rely on a remembered figure; verify the current rate on the CDLE website before calculating what you are owed.
Who Is Exempt From Colorado Overtime
Not every worker is covered. The COMPS Order exempts certain categories, and the definitions are often narrower than people assume. Being paid a salary, by itself, does not make you exempt.
The main "white-collar" exemptions are for employees who meet both a duties test and a salary test:
- Executive or supervisor - primarily manages an enterprise or department and directs the work of others;
- Administrative - performs office work directly related to management policies or general business operations, with discretion and independent judgment;
- Professional - work requiring advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning, typically from prolonged specialized instruction.
To qualify, these employees must also be paid a salary above the COMPS Order's threshold, which the CDLE raises each year and which is higher than the federal salary threshold. As of recent COMPS Orders the Colorado weekly salary minimum was set in the range of roughly $1,000-$1,100 per week and increases annually - check the current COMPS Order for the exact figure rather than assuming.