Colorado pays overtime on three triggers — 40 hours a week, 12 hours a day, or 12 consecutive hours — whichever benefits the employee most. Enter your hours for each day and your rate — the split and gross pay update as you type.
Colorado pays overtime on three triggers — 40 hours a week, 12 hours a day, or 12 consecutive hours — whichever benefits the employee most. The rules below are the ones this calculator applies:
Colorado minimum wage (2026): $15.16/hour. Source for overtime rules: https://cdle.colorado.gov/wage-claim-act-and-minimum-wage/overtime. Source for the minimum wage: US Department of Labor, State Minimum Wage Laws table. Last verified: November 2026.
A full weekly timesheet for Colorado: clock in/out, breaks, Colorado overtime split, gross pay, print and CSV.
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Free — try itColorado pays overtime on three triggers — 40 hours a week, 12 hours a day, or 12 consecutive hours — whichever benefits the employee most. Premium hours are paid at 1.5× your regular rate, and an hour is never paid at two premiums at once.
The 2026 Colorado minimum wage is $15.16 per hour for most workers. Some cities set higher local rates, and tipped and youth rates can differ.
Five 9-hour days at $15.16: 40.00 regular hours ($606.40) plus 5.00 overtime hours at $22.74 ($113.70) = $720.10 gross before taxes.
Colorado owes overtime on whichever basis helps the employee most: 40 hours in a week, 12 hours in a workday, or 12 consecutive hours — the last one matters for split shifts and shifts crossing midnight. This calculator scores hours per day plus the weekly total, so check with payroll if your shifts are split.
Only paid breaks count as hours worked. A bona fide meal period where you are fully relieved of duty is unpaid under federal rules, which is why the estimate separates your break minutes; short rest breaks of about 5–20 minutes must be paid under the FLSA.
Five 9-hour days (45 hours) at the Colorado minimum wage of $15.16/hour. No day reaches 12 hours, so the daily trigger never fires; the weekly 40-hour rule produces all of the overtime: 45:00 hours — 40:00 regular and 5:00 overtime — for a gross of $720.10 ($606.40 regular + $113.70 overtime). Change the rate or the day hours above and the same split is recalculated instantly.
No — that is called pyramiding, and it is not allowed. An hour paid at a daily premium is not counted again toward the 40-hour weekly threshold; you receive whichever treatment benefits you more for that hour, never both.
Paid break minutes stay in your paid time instead of coming off the shift. That can move a day or a week across a threshold: a 9:00-to-6:30 shift with a paid 30-minute break holds 9.5 paid hours, not 9.
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