Workers' Comp Laws in Colorado

If you were just hurt on the job in Colorado, two clocks are already running: a short one to tell your employer, and a longer one to file your formal claim. This guide walks through both, plus what happens to your medical care, your paycheck, and your options if the claim gets denied. Everything below comes from the Colorado Division of Workers' Compensation and the Colorado Workers' Compensation Act.

The Deadlines, Up Front

• Tell your employer, in writing, immediately. Colorado law requires written notice of the injury to your employer within 10 days of the injury (C.R.S. 8-43-102), and the Division's guidance for injured workers says to notify your employer in writing within 10 working days. For an occupational disease, the statute calls for written notice within 30 days after the first distinct manifestation of the disease.
• File your claim within 2 years. File a Worker's Claim for Compensation (Form WC15) with the Division of Workers' Compensation within two years of your injury.
• If a judge rules against you, you have 20 days. A Petition to Review must be filed within 20 days after the date of the certificate of mailing of the order, or the order becomes final (C.R.S. 8-43-301).

If a deadline has already passed, do not assume you have no claim — report the injury in writing anyway and call the Division. Colorado law contains exceptions (described below), and only the Division or a judge can apply them to your facts.

What to Do First

1. Get medical care. In an emergency, go to the closest emergency department — sort out paperwork afterward. For a non-emergency injury, ask your employer for its designated provider list before you go (see below).
2. Report the injury to your employer in writing. A written incident report, email, or letter works. Keep a copy. Note the date, time, and how the injury happened. Colorado employers who receive your written notice must stamp it with the date and time received and give you a copy within seven days.
3. File your own WC15 with the Division. The Division encourages injured workers to report the injury directly to it using the Worker's Claim for Compensation form, which helps protect your rights. Forms must be completed in English.
4. Follow your treatment plan and keep every appointment. The Division warns that failing to appear at a rescheduled medical appointment can lead to suspension of temporary disability benefits.
5. Write down what happened while it is fresh: date, time, location, witnesses, and exactly what you were doing.

Colorado's Workers' Compensation Agency

The Colorado Division of Workers' Compensation (DOWC), part of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), administers the state's workers' comp system. It does not pay claims itself — your employer's insurer or self-insured employer does — but it sets the rules, publishes the forms, runs the prehearing and settlement process, and answers questions from injured workers through its Customer Service Unit. Start at the Division's official site: cdle.colorado.gov/dwc, and see its Injured Workers section and free Injured Worker Guide (also available in Spanish).

The Division notes that your immigration status is not a factor in whether you can receive workers' compensation benefits — all employees have the right to pursue a claim.

Who Is Covered in Colorado

Per the Division, employers must carry workers' compensation insurance if they have one or more employees operating in Colorado. That applies to all employers, whether the employees are part-time, full-time, or family members, and anyone who is paid for the work they perform is presumed to be an employee. There are a few exceptions — the most common being genuine independent contractors, and Colorado has very specific requirements for who qualifies as one. If you are unsure whether you should have been covered, the Division's Customer Service Unit can help you check your employer's coverage status.

Colorado is not a monopolistic state-fund state. Employers may insure with an authorized private carrier, with Pinnacol Assurance, or — if they qualify — through self-insurance. Pinnacol was created by statute (C.R.S. 8-45-101) as a political subdivision of the state that operates as a domestic mutual insurance company, and by law it may not refuse to insure any Colorado employer, or cancel a policy, because of the risk of loss or the amount of premium. In practice that makes it the coverage source of last resort for employers private carriers won't write.

If your employer had no insurance at all, you can still file the WC15, and the Colorado Uninsured Employer Fund may provide financial assistance after a judge orders benefits in your case. The Division's file-a-claim page explains that process.

The Deadline to File Your Claim

You generally have two years from the date of your injury to file a Worker's Claim for Compensation (Form WC15) with the Division. Under C.R.S. 8-43-103, the right to compensation is barred unless a notice claiming compensation is filed with the Division within two years after the injury (or after a death resulting from it).

The statute does provide narrow relief valves: the director may still allow a claim filed within three years if it is established to the director's satisfaction that a reasonable excuse exists for the late filing and the employer's rights were not prejudiced; and if your employer was given notice of your injury but failed to report it to the Division, the limitations clock does not start running until that report is filed. These are exceptions, not a plan. File within two years.

If your condition developed gradually rather than from a single accident, ask the Division how the filing clock is measured in your situation before you rely on any date.

Medical Care: Who Picks Your Doctor

Colorado's rule surprises many workers: you generally choose your treating doctor from a list your employer gives you, not from the whole phone book.

• Your employer must give you a written designated provider list of up to four doctors or clinics, and you must select one of the providers on that list. The one you pick becomes your Authorized Treating Physician (ATP).
• If your employer does not give you that written list within seven business days after you notify them of the injury, you may choose your own doctor.
• In an emergency, get treatment at the closest emergency department first.
• Keep a copy of the list and every claim document you receive.
• Your ATP can refer you to specialists. The Division also describes multiple ways to change doctors, depending on when you want to make the change — ask the Division or see its Injured Worker Guide.
• You can request reimbursement for mileage and parking for medical visits, but the Division says the request must be made within 120 days of the travel.

A change is coming. Colorado enacted House Bill 25-1300 in 2025, which changes the mechanism for choosing a treating physician and gives injured workers control over selecting their primary treating physician from accredited physicians, subject to geographic limits. By its own terms the act takes effect January 1, 2028 and applies to claims filed on or after that date. Until then, the designated-provider-list process above is the one that applies — and because this area is in transition, confirm the current process with the Division or your adjuster before assuming which rule governs your claim.

Wage Replacement Benefits

If your injury keeps you from working, or leaves you with restrictions your employer cannot accommodate, you may be entitled to temporary total disability (TTD) benefits. Per the Division, TTD is paid at two-thirds of your average weekly wage, every two weeks.

If you go back to work but earn less than before because of the injury — fewer hours, lighter duty, or time lost to medical appointments — you may be entitled to temporary partial disability (TPD) instead, based on the difference between what you were paid and what you would have been paid.

Waiting period: the insurer will not pay lost-wage benefits until you have missed three shifts. That waiting period is reimbursed to you if you end up missing more than two weeks of work because of the injury.

There is a state maximum weekly benefit, and it is adjusted every year — any specific dollar figure you find online may already be stale. Confirm the current maximum with the Division, which also publishes a benefits calculator.

Two practical warnings from the Division: you cannot take yourself off work — if you stop working without your doctor's approval, you may not get benefits for that lost time; and workers' comp benefits are not taxable, but you must tell your adjuster about other benefits you receive (unemployment, SSDI, employer-paid short- or long-term disability), which may offset your payments.

Permanent Disability Benefits

When your authorized treating physician decides you have reached maximum medical improvement (MMI) — the point where no additional treatment will improve your condition — the doctor determines whether you have permanent impairment and rates it as a percentage. Colorado uses two categories:

• Scheduled impairment — loss of function of toes, feet, legs, fingers, hands, arms, eyes, vision, or hearing.
• Non-scheduled (whole person) impairment — loss of function of the spine, lungs, or mental function.

Permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits are calculated from the doctor's percentage using the formula in the Colorado statute. Permanent total disability (PTD) applies when you are unable to earn any wages for the rest of your life; the Division says PTD is paid at the same amount as TTD. If you disagree with the rating, either side can request a Division Independent Medical Examination (DIME) — and if the insurer files a Final Admission of Liability, that document tells you the time limit to object. Read it the day it arrives.

If Your Claim Is Denied or Disputed

A denial is not the end of the road, but the appeal process runs on hard deadlines.

• Hearing. File an Application for Hearing with the Office of Administrative Courts (OAC), where an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) decides what benefits, if any, must be paid. See oac.colorado.gov.
• Informal options first. The Division's prehearing and settlement conference process can resolve procedural issues or settle the claim without a formal hearing. Settlement is voluntary — no one can force you to settle, and any settlement must be approved by the Division.
• Appeal: 20 days. To challenge an ALJ's order, file a Petition to Review — at the Denver office of the OAC for a judge's order (or with the Division for a director's order) — within 20 days after the date of the certificate of mailing of the order. If it is not filed on time, the order is final (C.R.S. 8-43-301). The clock runs from the certificate of mailing, not from the day you happen to open the envelope.
• Panel review. The Industrial Claim Appeals Office (ICAO) panel reviews the record and the written briefs — there is no hearing and no new evidence — and issues a written decision.
• Court of Appeals. A party dissatisfied with the ICAO's final order may appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals. That court has its own procedures, forms, and deadlines; confirm them with the court before you file.

You are not required to have a lawyer at any stage. Colorado has a formal self-represented (pro se) claimant track, and the Division publishes materials for workers who represent themselves.

Reopening a Closed Claim

If your condition worsens after your claim closes, you may be able to reopen it by filing an Application for Hearing with the OAC. Per the Division, the request must be filed within six years from the date of injury or two years from the date the last benefits became due and payable, whichever is longer. If those dates have passed and you need only further medical care, you may apply to reopen within two years of the date the last medical benefits became due and payable. A claim can be reopened only for fraud, error, mistake, or a change in your condition.

Where to Get Help in Colorado, Free

• The Division's Customer Service Unit answers questions from injured workers about the claims process — by phone at 303-318-8700 or toll-free 1-888-390-7936, or by email. Staff speak Spanish. Start at cdle.colorado.gov/dwc/injured-workers.
• The Division publishes a free Injured Worker Guide (English and Spanish), a claimant brochure, a benefits calculator, and self-represented claimant materials.
• The Office of Administrative Courts publishes forms and plain-language explanations of the hearing process at oac.colorado.gov. Its staff and judges must stay neutral and cannot give you legal advice.
• The Industrial Claim Appeals Office answers questions about appeals: cdle.colorado.gov appeals FAQ.
• If you want a lawyer, the Division links to a list of attorneys who take workers' compensation cases, compiled by the Colorado Bar Association. You are responsible for the cost of your own attorney.

This article provides general legal information about Colorado law, not legal advice for your specific situation. Deadlines and procedures can change — confirm anything that affects your claim directly with the Colorado Division of Workers' Compensation.