Colorado requires meal and paid rest break checks on many shifts. Everhour turns scheduled work time into reviewable entries.
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A Colorado break calculation answers three practical questions: whether the shift requires a 30-minute meal period, how many paid 10-minute rest periods apply, and how many hours stay paid after any duty-free unpaid meal. Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks for adult employees, so Colorado's meal and paid rest requirements are state-law rules layered on top of the federal baseline.
Most employees working in Colorado are entitled to an uninterrupted, duty-free meal period of at least 30 minutes when a shift exceeds 5 consecutive hours. Colorado also requires compensated 10-minute rest periods for each 4 hours of work, or major fraction of 4 hours. Required rest periods count as time worked for minimum wage and overtime.
Colorado's rest-period table drives the count. Shifts up to 2 hours receive 0 paid rest periods, over 2 and up to 6 receive 1, over 6 and up to 10 receive 2, over 10 and up to 14 receive 3, over 14 and up to 18 receive 4, over 18 and up to 22 receive 5, and over 22 receive 6. A required rest period is normally 10 paid minutes.
The meal-period rule has a separate test. A Colorado meal period qualifies as non-work, unpaid time only when the employee is completely relieved of all duties and allowed personal activity. If uninterrupted duty-free meal time is impractical, the employee must be allowed to eat on duty on paid time. Colorado child-labor limits also require separate review for minors, because adult break arithmetic does not control minor scheduling.
Start with the shift span, subtract only unpaid duty-free meal time, and keep required rest periods in paid hours. For example, an adult Colorado employee works 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM at $23 per hour. The 8-hour shift exceeds 5 consecutive hours, so a 30-minute meal period applies. The shift is over 6 and up to 10 hours, so 2 paid 10-minute rest periods apply.
If the employee receives one uninterrupted, duty-free 30-minute meal, paid time is 7.5 hours. Straight-time gross pay is $172.50 before taxes, benefits, weekly overtime, missed-break wages, or policy additions. The two required rest periods stay inside paid time. Deducting them would understate paid hours because Colorado required rest periods count as time worked.
A one-off break calculation is enough for a single shift, a policy review, or a quick payroll spot check. Use the shift start, shift end, meal length, duty-free meal status, rest-period count, and hourly rate. Add 10 minutes of wages per missed required Colorado rest period when the employer did not authorize and permit the break.
A managed workflow fits recurring schedules, multiple locations, approvals, or payroll handoff. Calendar-based entries can help when planned work blocks already live in Google, Outlook, or iCloud calendars, and timecards can capture clock-in, clock-out, and breaks for review. Approved records matter when the same break rules need consistent treatment across every pay period.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
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Most employees working in Colorado are entitled to an uninterrupted, duty-free meal period of at least 30 minutes when a shift exceeds 5 consecutive hours. The meal should be scheduled at least 1 hour after the start and 1 hour before the end when practical. The period is unpaid only when the employee is completely relieved of all duties.
Colorado required rest breaks are paid time. Employers must authorize and permit a compensated 10-minute rest period for each 4 hours of work, or major fraction of 4 hours. Required rest periods count as time worked for minimum wage and overtime, so they stay in paid hours on the timesheet.
An 8-hour Colorado shift falls over 6 and up to 10 hours, so it requires 2 paid rest periods. Each required rest period is normally 10 minutes. The employee and employer may voluntarily agree to two 5-minute breaks instead of one 10-minute break if 5 minutes is sufficient in that workplace, and the rest time remains paid.
A Colorado lunch cannot be unpaid when the employee keeps working. The meal period qualifies as non-work time only when the employee is completely relieved of all duties and allowed personal activity. If duty-free meal time is impractical, the employee must be allowed to eat on duty on paid time.
A missed required Colorado rest period is treated as a failure to pay 10 minutes of wages at the employee's agreed or legally required rate, whichever is higher. Count the missed-rest amount separately from the ordinary paid-hour total, then review weekly hours for any overtime due to covered nonexempt employees under the FLSA.
Everhour's calendar integration turns Google, Outlook, and iCloud calendar events with defined start and end times into timesheet entries within a configurable 15-minute to 3-hour window. All-day, recurring, and pre-connection events do not sync, so managers still need review rules for missing or changed shifts.
Connect calendar events to Everhour timesheet entries, then review scheduled work, breaks, and corrections before payroll so Colorado break checks have a clear record.
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