Colorado labor law posters come in two stacks: state notices published by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) and federal notices from agencies like the EEOC, OSHA, and the Department of Labor. Every Colorado employer needs both. All of them are free downloads from the issuing agency, and several change every January, so a poster that was compliant last year may not be compliant now.
The Required Colorado State Posters
Colorado requires at least six state notices, plus a payday notice you create yourself. Some apply to every employer; others depend on your size or industry.
Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards (COMPS) Order
The COMPS Order poster, codified at 7 CCR 1103-1, spells out the state minimum wage, overtime rules, and meal and rest break requirements. For 2026, the standard minimum wage is $15.16 per hour and the tipped minimum wage is $12.14 per hour.1Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Labor Standards and Statistics Because the dollar figures change annually, download a fresh copy each year. Every employer subject to the COMPS Order must display it in an area frequented by employees where it can be easily read during the workday.2Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Labor Standards Posters
Workplace Public Health Rights Poster
This notice covers the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA) and public health emergency whistleblower protections. It tells employees they earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours per year, starting on their first day.3Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. INFO 6B – Employer and Employee Rights and Obligations Under the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act Employers must also provide the notice to new hires with their other onboarding paperwork and refresh the posted version by year-end when it changes.4Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Colorado Workplace Public Health Rights Poster
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) Notice
The FAMLI program provides paid leave for events like bonding with a new child, caring for a seriously ill family member, or recovering from your own health condition. Employers must notify employees about the program, and the notice has to hang in a prominent, visible workplace location.5Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Required Program Notice The poster explains how premiums are shared between employer and employee and how workers file a claim.6Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Employers
Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act Notice
The Colorado Civil Rights Commission requires every employer to post a notice summarizing the discriminatory practices state law prohibits. It must be displayed in a conspicuous, easily accessible, and well-lit place.7Colorado Civil Rights Division. Anti-Discrimination Notices Colorado’s list of protected classes is broader than many employers expect: disability, race (which explicitly includes hair texture and protective hairstyles like braids and locs), sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age 40 and older, national origin, ancestry, marital status, pregnancy, and wage transparency protections for employees who share pay information with coworkers.8Colorado Civil Rights Division. Discrimination
Workers’ Compensation Notice
Employers must post the Notice to Employer of Injury, known as Form WC50. The required version is the black-and-white English copy (page 2 of the form). Spanish and color versions are available as optional supplements.9Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Workers’ Compensation Forms
Unemployment Insurance and Payday Notices
The Colorado Employment Security Act (C.R.S. 8-70-101) requires employers to post a notice about unemployment insurance benefits, available through the CDLE posters page.10Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Posters Separately, Colorado law requires every employer to post a notice specifying regular paydays and the time and place of payment.11Justia Law. Colorado Code 8-4-107 – Notice of Pay The payday notice is not a standardized CDLE form. You create it yourself using your company’s pay schedule.
Federal Posters Colorado Employers Must Also Display
State notices are only half the picture. Missing the federal posters is one of the most common compliance gaps, especially for small businesses that assume state notices are enough.
- EEOC “Know Your Rights” poster, covering federal anti-discrimination laws including protections based on race, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, and genetic information. It must be placed where employees and applicants can see it. The penalty for failing to post is $680 per violation.12U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal Poster
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage poster, required of every employer subject to the FLSA, which covers virtually all private employers.13U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters
- OSHA Job Safety and Health poster, which informs workers of their rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and must be displayed where workers can easily see it.14Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Cares Job Safety and Health Workplace Poster
- FMLA poster, required of all covered employers even at locations where no employee is currently eligible. It must go in a conspicuous place where employees and applicants can see it.15U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Poster
Depending on your business, you may also need the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) poster and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) notice. Every federal poster is a free download from the issuing agency’s website.
Where to Hang Them
Colorado regulations are specific. Posters must go in a conspicuous location frequented by employees where they can be easily read during the workday. The CDLE identifies break rooms, employee bulletin boards, areas near time clocks, department entrances, and facility entrances as appropriate spots.2Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Labor Standards Posters A worker should be able to read the information without asking a supervisor for access.
Remote Workers
When physical posting is impractical because of remote work, a private residence employing only one worker, or an outdoor site with no indoor area, the employer must provide a copy of the poster to each worker within their first month of employment. Delivery can happen through electronic communication or posting on a web-based platform, as long as those are methods the employer normally uses to communicate with staff.2Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Labor Standards Posters Burying a PDF in a shared drive nobody checks does not count. The electronic version has to be easy to find, easy to read, and something the employee can save.
Where to Get Official Copies
Every required Colorado poster is a free download from the CDLE website. You can print them on standard office paper or send them to a print shop for a larger, more durable version. The CDLE posters page organizes all current notices with their effective dates, in both English and Spanish.10Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Posters Federal posters come from the issuing agencies: the EEOC poster from eeoc.gov, the OSHA poster from osha.gov, and the FLSA and FMLA posters from dol.gov.
Third-party vendors sell all-in-one poster packages, typically for $50 to $70 per year on a subscription basis. These bundle state and federal notices on a single laminated sheet. Be cautious, though. Private versions sometimes lag behind official updates, and no vendor’s poster substitutes for downloading the current version from the issuing agency. If a vendor poster and the official CDLE version conflict, the official version controls.
What Happens If You Don’t Post
Colorado does not impose a single, blanket fine for missing posters. The consequences depend on which notice is absent.
For the COMPS Order, an employer that fails to properly post loses eligibility for employee-specific credits, deductions, and exemptions under the order, though employer-wide and industry-wide exemptions still apply. That means you could lose the ability to claim a tip credit or certain overtime exemptions for individual employees, and the financial exposure often far exceeds what a flat fine would cost.
For the Workplace Public Health Rights poster, failure to post may itself constitute a violation of the HFWA, which can lead to enforcement orders and civil penalties under that statute.4Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Colorado Workplace Public Health Rights Poster
On the federal side, the EEOC can assess a $680 penalty for each failure to post its “Know Your Rights” notice, adjusted annually for inflation.12U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal Poster
Beyond direct penalties, missing posters create real problems in wage-and-hour disputes and discrimination claims. If an employee says they didn’t know about their overtime rights or paid leave entitlements, the absence of a required poster makes it much harder to argue the worker should have known. Courts and administrative agencies tend to read missing notices as a signal the employer wasn’t taking compliance seriously, which can tip close cases against you. Hanging a few sheets of paper is the cheapest insurance available.