Can You Get Unemployment for Being Fired in Colorado?

If you were fired in Colorado, you can usually still collect unemployment benefits. State law starts from the premise that anyone “unemployed through no fault of his own” deserves a full award, and most firings — for poor performance, being a bad fit, lacking the right skills, or making honest mistakes — do not meet the legal definition of misconduct.¹ Whether you get paid, get paid after a delay, or get nothing comes down to what your employer can actually prove about why you were let go.

Firings That Don’t Block Your Benefits

Most people who get fired land here. Colorado’s statute spells out several separation reasons that carry no penalty at all and leave you with a full benefit award:

You were physically or mentally unable to perform the work, or you lacked the education or professional skills the job required.¹
Your own health, or the health of a spouse, civil union partner, or dependent child, forced you out after your employer’s medical leave was exhausted.¹
You made a mistake that falls within the range of errors “normally made by workers engaging in the same or similar work.” The state also weighs how long you did the job satisfactorily before the mistake.¹
Your employer never told you or the state why you were fired.¹

Being told you weren’t meeting expectations, missing a sales target, or being let go because the chemistry wasn’t there are the kinds of reasons that end jobs every day without meeting the misconduct bar. None of them, standing alone, disqualifies you.

Misconduct That Costs You 10 Weeks

If your firing does involve misconduct, Colorado typically defers your benefits for 10 weeks rather than denying your claim entirely, and the wages you earned with that employer come out of your benefit calculation.¹ The statute names specific conduct that puts you in this tier:

Insubordination, including deliberately disobeying a reasonable instruction, refusing to maintain required licenses or certifications, or repeated agitation against workplace policies.¹
Violating a rule that caused or risked serious harm — ignoring posted safety rules, mistreating patients in a healthcare setting, falsifying records, or taking company property without authorization.¹
Using or distributing drugs or alcohol on the job, or testing positive for a controlled substance or a blood alcohol level of 0.04% or higher under a written employer policy or legal testing requirement.¹
Off-duty drug or alcohol use that interferes with your job performance.¹
Chronic performance problems like excessive tardiness, sleeping on the job, or repeatedly failing to meet defined standards, unless the failure traces to factors outside your control such as a health condition.¹

Ten weeks is a serious delay, but it isn’t the end of the claim. Once the deferral period passes, you can collect whatever remains based on wages from other qualifying employers in your base period. For drug and alcohol cases, there is a narrow path to benefits even sooner: if you admit to an addiction, provide a physician’s statement, and begin an approved treatment program, the state may still award benefits.¹

Gross Misconduct and the 26-Week Bar

The harshest penalty is reserved for gross misconduct. A finding here means a 26-week disqualification plus an equal reduction in your total benefit amount. Because a standard Colorado claim lasts up to 26 weeks, this effectively wipes out the claim.

Gross misconduct covers behavior reckless or intentional enough to show wrongful intent. The statute specifically names assaulting or threatening to assault supervisors, coworkers, or anyone else at the work site, and it also captures negligence severe enough or repeated enough to show culpability.¹ This tier is less common than the 10-week deferral and comes up when the conduct is clearly the direct cause of the firing rather than one factor among several.

The Baseline Requirements You Still Have to Meet

The reason you were fired only matters if you clear the state’s other eligibility rules first. You need to have earned at least $2,500 in wages during your base period — the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters before you file. If a recent job start or an employment gap leaves you short under that calculation, you can request an alternative base period that uses the last four completed quarters.²

You also have to be physically and mentally able to work, available to start a new job right away, willing to accept suitable work, and actively looking for work each week you claim benefits.³

Filing After You’re Fired

Colorado processes claims through the MyUI+ online portal.⁴ Before you start, pull together your Social Security number, pay stubs, and details for every employer you worked for in the past 18 months, including the business name, address, dates of employment, and rate of pay.⁵ The state will contact every employer on that list to learn how you separated.

When you reach the section about why you left your last job, be specific and stick to the facts. If you were fired for performance issues you could not control, say so plainly and plainly describe them. A gap between your account and your employer’s account triggers an investigation that slows the whole claim down, and that fact-finding is where many misconduct allegations fall apart on the employer’s side when they can’t produce documentation.

If You’re Denied Because of the Firing

If the state denies benefits based on the reason you were fired, you have 20 calendar days from the date on the determination letter to appeal. Weekends and holidays count, though if the 20th day falls on a non-business day, the deadline rolls to the next business day.⁶ Filing through MyUI+ is fastest; you can also mail or fax the form on the back of the determination letter.

The state will schedule a phone hearing before an impartial hearing officer and send a Notice of Hearing by mail and to your MyUI+ account. One deadline catches people out: you must check in for your hearing no later than 2:00 p.m. the day before it’s scheduled, or the appeal is dismissed automatically.⁶

At the hearing, both sides can present testimony and evidence. In a termination dispute, the employer generally bears the burden of proving misconduct, and when they show up without documentation or specifics, determinations often flip in the worker’s favor. The whole process usually takes four to six weeks from the date your appeal is received until the hearing officer issues a decision.⁷ You have to keep requesting payments and meeting every eligibility rule the whole time, whether or not you’re currently being paid.⁶

You don’t need a lawyer, but you can hire one at your own expense.⁷ If the first appeal is denied, you can escalate to a second-level review. An appeal received more than 180 days late is dismissed with no hearing at all.⁶

1
Justia. Colorado Code 8-73-108 – Benefit Awards – Definitions
2
Department of Labor & Employment. Qualifying for Benefits
3
Department of Labor & Employment. Eligibility and Work Search Requirements
4
Department of Labor & Employment. MyUI+
5
Department of Labor & Employment. Applying for UI Benefits
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Department of Labor & Employment. Appeal Rights
7
Department of Labor & Employment. Appeals FAQs