Colorado
For Colorado, employee threshold is one or more employees; who counts toward the threshold is part-time, full-time, or family members; owner/officer inclusion or exemption is If a contractor has no employees, the contractor must be covered by workers' compensation insurance unless they choose to reject coverage; industry-specific rules is Construction: contractors must carry a policy for employees, and must make sure that subcontractors also meet workers' compensation requirements. If a contractor has no employees, the contractor must be covered by workers' compensation insurance unless they choose to reject coverage; penalty for not carrying coverage is up to $500 for every day you are uninsured. Your business may also be shut down. If one of your employees is hurt while you are uninsured, you will have to pay for the claim yourself and an additional penalty totaling 25% of the injured worker's benefits, recorded from its source on 2026-08-12.
- State
- Colorado our reading
- Employee threshold
- one or more employees verified
- Who counts toward the threshold
- part-time, full-time, or family members verified
- Owner/officer inclusion or exemption
- If a contractor has no employees, the contractor must be covered by workers' compensation insurance unless they choose to reject coverage.
- Industry-specific rules
- Construction: contractors must carry a policy for employees, and must make sure that subcontractors also meet workers' compensation requirements. If a contractor has no employees, the contractor must be covered by workers' compensation insurance unless they choose to reject coverage.
- Penalty for not carrying coverage
- up to $500 for every day you are uninsured. Your business may also be shut down. If one of your employees is hurt while you are uninsured, you will have to pay for the claim yourself and an additional penalty totaling 25% of the injured worker's benefits.
- Issuing authority
- Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Workers' Compensation
Values marked our reading are our classification of what the source says — the source does not print them in those words. The quote below is the evidence for each one; judge it yourself.
What the source says
If you have one or more employees working for you in Colorado, you must have workers' compensation insurance and maintain it at all times. This applies to all employers, regardless of whether the employees are part-time, full-time, or family members. Colorado has additional insurance requirements for businesses in the construction industry. Failure to carry insurance could result in fines.
— cdle.colorado.gov, retrieved 2026-08-12
Source
- cdle.colorado.govhttps://cdle.colorado.gov/dwc/employers/insurance-coverage