Who is Eligible for Overtime in Colorado?

In the state of Colorado, overtime pay is time and one-half of your hourly pay-rate. For example, if you are an hourly employee making $14 an hour, your overtime rate is $21.

Colorado Minimum Wage Order Number 34 states that eligible employees can begin receiving overtime after:

• 40 hours of work in a single week
• 12 hours in any single day
• 12 consecutive hours regardless of start and stop time

Not all employees are eligible for overtime in Colorado. While state and federal rules change from time to time, in general, you are not eligible for overtime if you are:

• A salaried administrative employee
• A salaried executive employee
• A salaried professional employee

Employees performing the following jobs are exempt from overtime pay in Colorado*:

• Salespersons, parts-persons, and mechanics employed by automobile, truck, or farm implement dealers
• Salespersons employed by trailer, aircraft and boat dealers
• Sales employees of retail or service industries paid on a commission basis, provided that 50% of their total earnings in a pay period are derived from commission sales, and their regular rate of pay is at least one and one-half times the minimum wage.
• Employees of the ski industry performing duties directly related to ski area operations for downhill skiing or snow boarding, and those employees engaged in providing food and beverage services at on-mountain locations, are exempt from the forty hour overtime requirement.
• Employees of the medical transportation industry who are scheduled to work twenty-four hour shifts, are exempt from the twelve hour overtime requirement

*https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdle/exemptions

You may be eligible for overtime in Colorado if you are not salaried and you work in one of the following industries.*
*Descriptions from https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdle/wageordercoverage

"Any business or enterprise that sells or offers for sale, any service, commodity, article, good, real estate, wares, or merchandise to the consuming public, and that generates 50% or more of its annual dollar volume of business from such sales. The retail and service industry offers goods or services that will not be made available for resale. It also includes amusement and recreation, public accommodations, banks, credit unions, savings and loans, and includes any employee who is engaged in the performance of work connected with or incidental to such business or enterprise, including office personnel."

"Any business or enterprise engaged directly or indirectly in providing services to other commercial firms through the use of service employees who perform duties such as: clerical, keypunching, janitorial, laundry or dry cleaning, security, building or plant maintenance, parking attendants, equipment operations, landscaping and grounds maintenance. Commercial support service also includes temporary help firms which provide employees to any business or enterprise covered by this wage order. Any employee, including office personnel, engaged in the performance of work connected with or incidental to such business or enterprise, is covered by the provisions of this wage order."

"Any business or enterprise that prepares and offers for sale, food or beverages for consumption either on or off the premises. Such business or enterprise includes but is not limited to: restaurants, snack bars, drinking establishments, catering services, fast-food businesses, country clubs and any other business or establishment required to have a food or liquor license or permit, and includes any employee who is engaged in the performance of work connected with or incidental to such business or enterprise, including office personnel."

"Any business or enterprise engaged in providing medical, dental, surgical or other health services including but not limited to medical and dental offices, hospitals, home health care, hospice care, nursing homes, and mental health centers, and includes any employee who is engaged in the performance of work connected with or incidental to such business or enterprise, including office personnel."

In the past 17 years, legal cases involving overtime pay have increased 385%.

If you have been cheated out of fair pay or in any other way mistreated at work, Leventhal Sar LLC may be able to help. Call us at (720) 667-3030 to learn more.