Colorado’s Recordkeeping Requirements on Breaks: All You Need To Know
Emily Maina
Last update on:
February 28, 2025 4:04 AM
Published on:
While many Colorado business owners focus on providing breaks to employers, the importance of accurate and thorough recordkeeping is often overlooked. Recordkeeping is an essential part of business operations that helps companies settle legal disputes and prove compliance with the law.
This article discusses federal, as well as Colorado’s recordkeeping requirements, along with challenges employers face, potential legal ramifications for insufficient recordkeeping, and best practices for compliance.
This information must include key information such as:
Personal employee information: Full name, Social Security number, address including zip code, birthdate (if under 19), gender, and occupation.
Time and earnings: Hours worked weekly and daily, basis of payment (hourly, daily, etc.), regular hourly pay rate, total daily or weekly straight-time earnings, and total overtime earnings.
Payroll information: Alladditions to or deductions from wages, total wages paid each pay period, overtime earnings for the workweek, payment dates, and the pay period covered by the payment.
Employee records, including payroll records, collective bargaining agreements, sales and purchase records must be kept on file for at least three years.
Wage records like time cards, wage rate tables, work schedules, and records of additions to or deductions from wages should be kept for two years.
Colorado-specific recordkeeping requirements
Besides the FSLA requirements, some states have specific break laws for adult employees. If an employee's shift is longer than five hours, Colorado law states the employee should be given a 30-minute meal break. The meal break should be uninterrupted and the employee should be relieved of their duties during that period.
However, if the nature of a job prevents an employee from taking a completely duty-free break, a paid on-duty meal period must be provided. Employees do not need to leave the premises during rest breaks.
Note: Break laws can be overwhelming, but we're here to help. Our comprehensive guide on Colorado break laws covers these requirements in more detail.
Employee information: Name, address, occupation, date of hire, and date of birth for employees under 18 years of age.
Work hours and pay: Daily start and end times, meal periods, and total hours worked.
Pay information: Regular rate of pay, gross wages earned, withholdings, and net amounts paid.
Colorado law mandates that employers provide employees with itemized pay statements each pay period, detailing all earnings and deductions.
Challenges employers face with recordkeeping in Colorado
Maintaining meticulous records in Colorado presents several challenges for employers, such as:
Manual tracking and recordkeeping: Countless hours are wasted in manual processes relying on paper and spreadsheets. These methods are prone to human error resulting in inaccuracies in employee records. Manual recordkeeping is one of the leading causes of discrepancies in payroll, overtime calculations, and compliance reporting.
Regulatory compliance: Evolving federal and state labor laws demand continuous exposure and continuous change in recordkeeping practices if businesses wish to stay compliant.
Data security: Data security is of utmost concern when it comes to recordkeeping. Employers need to find an effective way to manage sensitive employee' information and prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing it.
Additionally, it can be difficult to retrieve records in the case of audits or legal disputes.
Integration issues: Older recordkeeping systems may not integrate well with newer technology, causing data inconsistencies and access issues. Most companies use different payroll, attendance, and HR systems, which makes it difficult to efficiently synchronize data and maintain unified records across various systems.
Employee misreporting: An employee may misreport data willfully or accidentally, causing inaccuracies in records and overbilling.
Examples include:
Employees fail to clock in or clock out
Erroneous reporting of break periods
Rounding up hours
Remote workforces: For remote employees, it can be complicated to track hours and maintain compliance with labor laws, especially when it comes to validating actual work hours.
A single recordkeeping system would benefit remote workers, as records would be organized and easily accessible.
Risks of inadequate recordkeeping in Colorado
Failure to maintain proper records can lead to significant legal repercussions for employers in Colorado.
Potential legal risks include:
Non-compliance penalties: Federal or state agencies may impose fines and sanctions on non-compliant employers.
Litigation vulnerability: For companies involved in wage and hour disputes, inaccurate or missing records paints employers in a bad light, putting them more in a position to encounter costly settlements or judgments.
Regulatory investigations: Poor recordkeeping practices can trigger investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) or the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), leading to audits and examination of business practices.
Tax and payroll issues: Inaccuracies in payroll records can lead to miscalculations in tax withholdings, exposing companies to penalties from the IRS.
Best practices for recordkeeping
To handle the complexities of compliance with labor laws, employers can consider adopting the following best practices:
Use digital solutions: Use electronic timekeeping systems to correctly record employee work hours, reducing the frequency of errors that are commonly found in manual records.
Regular audits: Periodically audit your recordkeeping system to ensure accuracy and compliance with current laws.
Training of employees: Educate employees on correct timekeeping practices and the importance of accurate record submission.
Policy creation: Create written policies that establish recordkeeping responsibilities, including the reporting of meal and rest breaks as required by Colorado law.
Secure storage: Make provisions to protect records from unauthorized access, ensuring confidentiality and integrity.
How Timeero simplifies recordkeeping for Colorado employers
Using a time tracking app like Timeero is an effective way to keep accurate time and mileage records. Equipped with GPS technology, Timeero’ s automatic break tracking software helps businesses record employees’ work hours with greater accuracy.
Let’s look at some of the ways Timeero can help your business stay compliant.
Effortlessly enforce your company’s break policy
Timeero provides businesses with the tools needed to effectively manage employee breaks.
To prevent employees from violating break laws, Timeero allows managers to create break rules that reflect your company’s specific meal and rest break policies.
Add custom break rules in Timeero.
Employees working in different states may be required to follow state-specific break laws. For example, California has very strict break regulations. To prevent break violations from occurring, Timeero allows managers to create custom break rules for applicable employees, customizing break duration as well as compensation status.
Painless and efficient break tracking
When you have a large workforce, manually recording employees’ breaks is time consuming. With Timeero, you put the responsibility of break tracking in the hands of your employees. Through Timeero's timeclock, employees can conveniently start and end their breaks with the press of a button. All break time records automatically upload to their timesheet.
Logging a break on Timeero is easy.
Timeero's break tracking capabilities provide real-time insights, enabling managers to promptly address any break policy violations.
Eliminate missed breaks with reminders
Timeero's scheduling system reduces the amount of time you spend making sure employees take their breaks, by allowing you to build breaks into employee schedules.
Additionally, Timeero sends employees break reminders via push notification, 10 minutes before their scheduled break.
Notifications reminding employees to take their breaks.
Gather valuable insights through break reports
Timeero offers users the ability to generate multiple reports in an effort to understand employee break patterns. The data presented in these reports can be used as evidence in an audit or dispute.
Break reports contain information such as:
Names of employees who took breaks in the specified period
Start and end times of their shifts
Type of breaks taken
Duration of the breaks
The start and end times of the breaks
An example of a break report generated on Timeero.
Use Timeero to maintain compliance
Businesses that implement an automated break tracking system like Timeero, experience less administrative burden and are more likely to remain in compliance with Colorado labor law.
Start a free trial today to see how Timeero simplifies recordkeeping and break tracking for your business.
Emily Maina is a tech-savvy writer with a passion for creating content. With years of experience in the industry, she is well-versed in the latest trends and developments in the tech industry. When she’s not working, Emily enjoys exploring the great outdoors or watching her favorite shows.
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