Colorado HFWA Paid Sick Leave: Accrual, Uses, and Penalties

Colorado’s Healthy Families and Workplaces Act gives almost every worker in the state paid sick leave. Under HFWA, Colorado paid sick leave accrues at one hour for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours a year, and it can be used for your own illness, to care for a family member, to deal with domestic abuse, to grieve a death, or to handle certain emergencies.¹ The law applies to every employer in Colorado regardless of size, with the federal government the one statutory exclusion.²

Who Is Covered

Every private company, state agency, county, city, school district, and other political subdivision operating in Colorado must follow HFWA.² Full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary employees are all covered, and accrual starts on the first day of work. There is no waiting period.

Independent contractors are not covered. But Colorado presumes a worker is an employee unless the company can show the worker is genuinely free from its control and runs an independent business.³ If a company sets your schedule, provides your tools, and pays you hourly, calling you a contractor on paper does not remove your right to HFWA leave. Willful misclassification carries fines of $5,000 for a first violation (rising to $10,000 if not fixed within 60 days) and $25,000 for repeat violations.⁴

How You Earn Leave

The default is straightforward: one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, capped at 48 hours per year.¹ Employers can be more generous but never less.

Instead of tracking hours pay period by pay period, an employer may front-load the full 48 hours at the start of the year.¹

Unused hours carry over into the next year, up to 48. The carryover does not raise how much you can actually use in a single year; that annual usage cap stays at 48 hours no matter how much you have banked.¹

When your job ends, employers do not have to pay out unused HFWA leave. If you are rehired within six months, though, your prior balance must be reinstated immediately.

What You Can Use It For

The statute lists specific qualifying reasons:⁵

A physical or mental illness, injury, or condition that keeps you from working, or the need for diagnosis, treatment, or preventive care.
Caring for a family member with a health condition or helping them get treatment or preventive care.
Seeking medical attention, counseling, victim services, relocation, or legal help after domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment.
Bereavement, including grieving, attending a funeral or memorial, or handling financial and legal matters after a family member’s death. This use was added by Senate Bill 23-017 in 2023.⁶
Caring for a family member whose school or childcare closes because of weather, power loss, or another unexpected event.
Evacuating your home because of severe weather, utility failure, or another emergency.

“Family member” is defined broadly. It covers spouses, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, anyone who acted as a parent to you when you were a minor, and any person for whom you are responsible for arranging health or safety-related care.⁷ That last category is deliberately open. An elderly neighbor or close friend who has no one else can fit.

Pay Rate and Time Increments

Sick leave is paid at your normal hourly rate or salary, including shift differentials and commissions. Overtime premiums and discretionary bonuses do not count. If your pay varies, the rate is based on your earnings over the 30 calendar days before the leave, excluding bonuses.⁸ Tipped employees must receive at least the full minimum wage for leave hours, even if their regular pay uses a tip credit.

An employer may require leave to be used in one-hour increments. If the employer has not set a written minimum, the default drops to one-tenth of an hour, six minutes.⁸ That difference matters for partial-day appointments.

Notice and Doctor’s Notes

When you know in advance that you will need leave, such as for a scheduled surgery, tell your employer ahead of time. When the need is unexpected, give notice as soon as practicable.⁹ The standard is flexible; calling in before your shift when you wake up with the flu is typically enough.

Employers can ask for documentation like a doctor’s note only when an absence stretches to four or more consecutive workdays you would normally have worked. Calendar days alone do not count. Miss four scheduled workdays in a row and the threshold is met; miss three, and it is not.⁸ Even when documentation is required, employers cannot demand details about the underlying condition. During a public health emergency, documentation requirements are waived entirely.⁹

Retaliation Is Prohibited

An employer cannot fire, demote, suspend, or discipline you for using HFWA leave. It cannot count that leave as an absence under an attendance-based discipline policy either.¹⁰ A “no-fault” points system that penalizes every absence regardless of reason cannot assign points for HFWA-protected days.

The same protection covers employees who file a complaint, cooperate with a Division investigation, or tell a coworker about their rights. If you acted in good faith, you are protected even if you turn out to have been wrong about a violation.¹⁰

If the Division finds retaliation cost you your job or pay, it can order reinstatement and back pay. Each affected employee counts as a separate violation.¹⁰

Public Health Emergency Leave

During a declared public health emergency, HFWA requires employers to top up each employee’s balance to as much as 80 hours of paid sick leave. If you already have 30 hours banked, your employer must provide 50 more. Part-time employees receive a proportional amount based on their usual hours.⁸ This supplement can be used when a public official orders your workplace to close or when your child’s school or care facility closes during the emergency.⁵

Penalties When Employers Refuse to Pay

If an employer refuses to pay for HFWA leave you properly used, the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics treats it as a wage violation. For non-willful violations, the employer owes double the unpaid wages or $1,000, whichever is greater. Willful violations rise to triple the unpaid wages or $3,000, whichever is greater.⁴ A daily fine of up to $50 also starts running from the date the wages were originally due.

Employers must keep records of hours worked and leave accrued and used for at least two years per employee. Pay statement records have a separate three-year retention rule.¹¹ Employers who fail to produce pay statements can be fined up to $250 per employee per month.⁴

How HFWA Fits with PTO, FAMLI, and FMLA

An employer’s general paid-time-off policy can satisfy HFWA, but only if the PTO provides at least as many hours, covers all the same qualifying reasons, and does not impose stricter conditions than the statute requires.⁸ A PTO plan that offers 48 hours per year but limits use to personal illness alone does not qualify, because HFWA reaches family care, bereavement, and other categories too.

HFWA is separate from Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program, which provides wage replacement for longer medical and family leave.¹² FAMLI runs concurrently with federal FMLA when the reason qualifies under both, while HFWA runs on its own track. You could use a few days of HFWA leave when symptoms first appear and then move to FAMLI benefits if the condition keeps you out longer.

Filing a Complaint

If you believe your employer has violated HFWA, you can file a complaint through the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics online claims portal. You create an account, log in, and choose the complaint form under the “Available Forms” tab. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled in 2025 that wage claims carry a two-year statute of limitations, or three years for willful violations, so filing sooner protects more of your claim.

1
Justia. Colorado Code 8-13.3-403 – Paid Sick Leave – Accrual – Carry Forward to Subsequent Year – Comparable Leave Provided by Employer – No Payment for Unused Leave – Rules
2
Justia. Colorado Code 8-13.3-402 – Definitions
3
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Independent Contractors
4
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. INFO 2B – Orders of Wages, Penalties, Fines, and Consequences for Non-Compliance
5
Justia. Colorado Code 8-13.3-404 – Use of Paid Sick Leave – Purposes – Time Increments
6
Colorado General Assembly. SB23-017 Additional Uses Paid Sick Leave
7
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act – Revised August 7, 2023
8
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. INFO 6B – Rights and Obligations Under HFWA
9
FindLaw. Colorado Code 8-13.3-405 – Use of Paid Sick Leave – Notification – Documentation
10
FindLaw. Colorado Code 8-13.3-407 – Retaliation Prohibited
11
Legal Information Institute. 7 CCR 1103-7-3 – Filing a Wage Complaint
12
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). FAMLI and Other Types of Leave