Colorado’s Minimum Wage to Increase in 2020, and Employers Should Brace for Patchwork of Differing City-Based Minimum Wages in the Future
By Dan Combs
Colorado employers should prepare for an increase in the state minimum wage from $11.10 to $12.00 per hour, and from $8.08 to $8.98 per hour for tipped employees, effective January 1, 2020.FN1 The 2020 increase is the final currently-planned wage increase under Amendment 70 of the Colorado Constitution. After 2020, the state minimum wage will be adjusted annually for cost of living increases.
In addition to future cost-of-living increases, employers should expect municipalities to implement further minimum wage hikes under a 2019 Colorado law that allows cities and counties to set their own minimum wages at an amount higher than the state minimum wage.FN2 Denver’s City Council is currently considering a proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15.00 over a period of time.FN3 We will keep you posted with developments on Denver’s and other municipalities’ proposals.
Footnotes
FN1: See Colorado Constitution Article XVIII, Section 15, https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/Colorado%20Constitution%2C%20Article%20XVIII%2C%20Section%2015_Sept%202019_0.pdf.
FN2: Colorado House Bill 19-1210, https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/2019a_1210_signed.pdf; see Ed Sealover, Colorado Legislature Finally Passes Bill to Let Cities, Counties Raise Minimum Wage, Denver Business Journal (May 3, 2019), https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2019/05/03/colorado-minimum-wage-increase-bill.html.
FN3: See, e.g., Alayna Alvarez, A Minimum Wage Hike Is Coming, and Denver Officials Want to Hear How to Make Sure Businesses Are Ready, Colorado Politics (Oct. 23, 2019), https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/premium/a-minimum-wage-hike-is-coming-and-denver-officials-want/article_0c1020b8-f57f-11e9-b398-931e842d4a1b.html.