In Colorado, when an employer ends the employment, earned wages are generally due immediately or on a short accelerated schedule; when you resign, by the next regular payday. The check must include earned, determinable compensation, and earned vacation cannot be forfeited. If a proper written demand goes unpaid, the Colorado Wage Act adds statutory penalties on top of the wages.
In this guide
The timing rules, by how the job ended
Colorado's Wage Act (C.R.S. article 8-4) splits final-pay timing by who ended the employment. When the employer discharges you, earned and determinable wages are generally due immediately, with limited accommodations when the payroll office is not operational at termination. When you resign, final wages are due by the next regular payday.
The rules apply to wages that are earned, vested, and determinable, your regular pay for hours worked, plus the categories below. Disputes usually start not with timing but with what the employer left out of the check.
Earned vacation must be paid out
Earned vacation is wages under the Colorado Wage Act, and the Colorado Supreme Court confirmed in Nieto v. Clark's Market that once vacation is earned, it cannot be forfeited at separation. A 'use it or lose it' policy that erases accrued vacation when you leave is unenforceable as to earned time.
Employers can control how vacation accrues, caps and accrual rates are policy choices, but they cannot take back what has already been earned. If your final check skips the vacation payout, that is unpaid wages, and it belongs in your written demand.
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Commissions, bonuses, and what counts as 'earned'
Commissions and bonuses that are earned, vested, and determinable under the governing plan are wages, and they belong in the final-pay analysis even when they would normally be paid on a later cycle. The fight is usually over the plan's own terms: what triggers earning, what vesting requires, and whether a 'must be employed on payment date' clause is enforceable on your facts.
Bring the plan documents, offer letter, and commission statements to any review. Whether a disputed bonus was earned is a document question first and a negotiation second, and employers routinely concede more when the documents are actually read.
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Deductions the employer cannot take
Colorado limits final-check deductions to categories the law allows, taxes, court-ordered withholdings, deductions you authorized in writing for your own benefit, and a narrow theft provision with strict conditions. Broad 'damage,' 'shortage,' or 'unreturned equipment' deductions imposed unilaterally are where employers most often cross the line.
If a deduction was taken, ask in writing for its legal basis. An employer that cannot point to an authorized category has converted your wages, and the amount belongs in the written demand.
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The written demand and the penalty structure
The Colorado Wage Act's enforcement mechanism turns on a written demand for the unpaid wages. When an employer fails to pay after a proper demand, the statute adds penalties on top of the wages owed, and the penalties increase when the failure is willful. The demand is short, factual, and specific: what is owed, for what, and where to send it.
From there you have routes: a CDLE wage complaint (filed online with the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics), or a court claim, and when the same practice shorted coworkers, a group claim. Colorado wage claims are generally subject to a 2-year limit, 3 years for willful violations, so the demand and the decision that follows it should not wait.
Questions, answered.
My employer says the final check comes on the normal payroll cycle. Is that right?
Only if you resigned. When you quit, final wages are due by the next regular payday. When the employer ends the employment, earned wages are generally due immediately or on a short accelerated schedule. Which rule applies depends on who ended the job.
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My handbook says unused vacation is forfeited when you leave. Can they do that?
Not as to earned vacation. Colorado treats earned vacation as wages that cannot be forfeited at separation, and a use-it-or-lose-it clause does not defeat the payout. The employer controls how vacation accrues going forward, not whether earned time gets paid.
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What should my written demand actually say?
Keep it short and specific: the amounts owed and for what (final wages, vacation payout, commissions, an unlawful deduction), the dates, and where payment should be sent. Send it in a way you can prove, email plus mail works, and keep a copy. The Wage Act's penalty structure turns on this demand, so it is worth doing precisely, and an attorney can send it for you.
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How long do I have to bring a Colorado wage claim?
Generally 2 years from when the wages were owed, extended to 3 years for willful violations. Each pay period carries its own clock, so the oldest amounts expire first while you wait.
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