Gov. Jared Polis has signed a bill that aims to crack down on wage theft in Colorado by increasing penalties and requiring the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics to publish offenders’ names online. 

House Bill 1001, sponsored by Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge, Rep. Meg Froelich, D-Englewood, and Sens. Jessie Danielson, D-Wheat Ridge, and Chris Kolker, D-Centennial, increases the cap for wage theft claims from $7,500 to $13,000 starting July 1, 2026 and adjusting for inflation beginning in 2028.

It also requires the Department of Labor and Employment to expedite its payment process for wage theft victims and imposes fines for employers who have purposely misclassified their employers to avoid providing benefits and overtime wages. 

“Colorado workers lose hundreds of millions of dollars per year in wages due to theft from bad-acting employers,” said Kolker. “Many of these workers are heads of their households already struggling to make ends meet. With this legislation, Colorado’s labor force would more quickly and easily access their owed wages so they are fairly compensated for the work they do.” 

In addition, the bill allows third parties to bring wage theft complaints on a worker’s behalf.

Last year, Polis vetoed a bill that would have expanded general contractor liability for wage theft claims in the construction industry, arguing it could unfairly punish general contractors who may not have played any role in the wage theft. This year, sponsors say they made sure the Executive Chamber was on board from the start. 

“This new law will help ensure that every Coloradan is paid fairly,” Polis said. “I am proud to sign this bill into law today to strengthen our protections for workers and want to thank the sponsors for their work on this new law.”

According to a 2022 report by the Colorado Fiscal Institute, nearly 450,000 Colorado workers experience over $700 million in wage theft each year, with employers in the retail, construction, and food service industries the most common perpetrators.