2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 8 - LABOR AND INDUSTRY (§§ 8-1-101 — 8-88-207) › LABOR I - DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT (§§ 8-1-101 — 8-20.5-401) › WAGES (§§ 8-4-101 — 8-10-103) › Article 4 - WAGES (§§ 8-4-101 — 8-4-126) › Section 8-4-103 - Payment of wages - insufficient funds - pay statement - record retention - gratuity notification - penalties

(1)
(a)
All wages or compensation, other than those mentioned in section
8-4-109
, earned by any employee in any employment, other than those specified in subsection (3) of this section, shall be due and payable for regular pay periods of no greater duration than one calendar month or thirty days, whichever is longer, and on regular paydays no later than ten days following the close of each pay period unless the employer and the employee shall mutually agree on any other alternative period of wage or salary payments.
(b)
An employer is subject to the penalties specified in section
8-4-113 (1)
if, two or more times within any twenty-four-month period, the employer causes an employee's check, draft, or order to not be paid because the employer's bank does not honor an employee's paycheck upon presentment. The director may investigate complaints regarding alleged violations of this paragraph (b).
(2)
(a)
In agricultural, horticultural, and floricultural pursuits and in stock or poultry raising, when the employee in such employments is boarded and lodged by the employer, all wages or compensation earned by any employee in such employment shall be due and payable for regular periods of no greater duration than one month and on paydays no later than ten days following the close of each pay period.
(b)
Nothing in paragraph (a) of this subsection (2), as amended by House Bill 05-1180, as enacted at the first regular session of the sixty-fifth general assembly, shall be construed as changing the property tax classification of property owned by a floricultural operation.
(3)
Nothing in this article shall apply to compensation payments due an employee under a profit-sharing plan, a pension plan, or other similar deferred compensation programs.
(4)
Every employer shall at least monthly, or at the time of each payment of wages or compensation, furnish to each employee an itemized pay statement in writing showing the following:
(a)
Gross wages earned;
(b)
All with holdings and deductions;
(c)
Net wages earned;
(d)
The inclusive dates of the pay period;
(e)
The name of the employee or the employee's social security number; and
(f)
The name and address of the employer.
(4.5)
An employer shall retain records reflecting the information contained in an employee's itemized pay statement as described in subsection (4) of this section for a period of at least three years after the wages or compensation were due. The records shall be available for inspection by the division, and the employer shall provide copies of the records upon request by the division or the employee. The director may impose a fine of up to two hundred fifty dollars per employee per month on an employer who violates this subsection (4.5) up to a maximum fine of seven thousand five hundred dollars.
(5)
Each field labor contractor shall keep, for a period of three years on each migratory laborer, records of wage rates offered, wages earned, number of hours worked, or, in the case of contractual or piecework where a field labor contractor pays the employee, the aggregate amount earned and all withholdings from wages on a form furnished by and in the manner prescribed by the division. In addition, in each pay period, each field labor contractor shall provide to each migratory laborer engaged in agricultural employment a statement of the gross earnings of the laborer for the period and all deductions and withholdings therefrom. The director may prescribe appropriate forms for use pursuant to this subsection (5). All such payroll records shall be filed with the division quarterly or at any time said labor contractor leaves this state or terminates his or her contract. The director is charged with the responsibility of making periodic reports to the governor's committee on migrant labor.
(6)
It is unlawful for an employer engaged in a business where the custom prevails of the giving of gratuities by patrons to an employee of the business to assert a claim to, or right of ownership in, or control over gratuities. These gratuities are the sole property of the employee unless the employer notifies each patron in writing, including by a notice on a menu, table tent, or receipt, that gratuities are shared by employees. Nothing in this section prevents an employer from requiring employees to share or allocate gratuities on a preestablished basis among the employees of the business.
Amended by 2019 Ch. 168, § 2, eff. 8/2/2019.
Amended by 2014 Ch. 276, § 3, eff. 1/1/2015.
L. 2003: Entire article amended with relocations, p. 1853, § 1, effective August 6. L. 2005: (2) amended, p. 347, § 1, effective August 8. L. 2009: (1) amended, (HB 09-1108), ch. 696, p. 696, § 1, effective August 5. L. 2014: (4.5) added, (SB 14-005), ch. 1112, p. 1112, § 3, effective 1/1/2015. L. 2019: (6) amended, (HB 19-1254), ch. 1969, p. 1969, § 2, effective August 2.
This section is similar to former §§ 8-4-102 (3), 8-4-105 , and 8-4-115 , as they existed prior to 2003, and the former § 8-4-103 was relocated to §
8-4-104
.
(1) For the short title ("Wage Protection Act of 2014") in SB 14-005, see section 1 of chapter 276, Session Laws of Colorado 2014. (2) For the legislative declaration in HB 19-1254, see section 1 of chapter 168, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.