Colorado: Lactation Break and Space Requirements
The short answer
Yes. Every Colorado public and private employer with at least one employee must provide reasonable unpaid break time or allow paid break or meal time each day to express milk for up to two years after birth. The employer must make reasonable efforts, measured by undue hardship, to provide a private room or location close to the work area other than a toilet stall; federal law independently requires time each time needed for one year and excludes the entire bathroom.
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This is the general rule in Colorado. Ezel applies current Colorado law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| State law and federal interaction | Colorado Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act, C.R.S. §§ 8-13.5-101 to -104: daily time for 2 years plus reasonable close private-space efforts. Federal § 218d independently requires each-time-needed breaks for 1 year and a shielded, intrusion-free place outside the entire bathroom |
|---|---|
| Covered employers and employees | All public and private employers with 1+ employee, including Colorado and political subdivisions. No headcount exemption from the time duty; 'reasonable efforts' space standard excludes actions imposing significant difficulty/expense, considering size, resources, structure, and public-safety circumstances |
| Break frequency and duration window | Reasonable unpaid time or use of paid break/meal time each day, up to 2 years after birth; no fixed state minutes or each-time-needed wording. Federal floor separately requires reasonable time each time needed for 1 year |
| Paid status and work during break | Colorado permits reasonable additional time to be unpaid or use of paid break/meal time; paid breaks remain paid. CDLE states unpaid treatment requires complete relief from duty and salaried pay may not be reduced. Federal § 218d has the same on-duty hours-worked rule |
| Space location and privacy | Reasonable efforts toward a private room/other location close to the work area, other than a toilet stall; reasonable effort is deemed compliance. No express state shielding, coworker/public intrusion, temporary/shared-space, priority, lock/sign, or camera formula. Federal law independently excludes the whole bathroom and requires shielding/intrusion protection |
| Equipment, water, cooling, and access | No Colorado statutory chair, surface, outlet, sink, water, refrigerator, cooling, cleanliness, hazard, or availability checklist; federal functional/available-space requirements and guidance remain separate |
| Request, notice, policy, and response | No prescribed oral/written request, advance notice, response deadline, written denial, interactive process, handbook, policy, poster, new-hire/annual notice, or recordkeeping duty in part 1; CDLE provides information but does not enforce the Act |
| Job protection, enforcement, and remedies | Employee may litigate only after nonbinding employer-employee mediation; CDLE does not accept Act claims or administer mediation. Section 8-13.5-104 states no forum, limitations period, damages, penalty, fee award, cure process, or separate operative retaliation standard. Federal enforcement/remedies remain separate |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Colorado covers every employer and lasts two years
The Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act applies to a person in
business with one or more employees and expressly includes the State and its
political subdivisions. C.R.S. § 8-13.5-104(1) requires reasonable unpaid break
time or permission to use paid break time, meal time, or both, each day to
express milk for up to two years after birth.
Colorado's daily-time language differs from federal § 218d(a), which requires
reasonable time each time needed but lasts for one year. During the first year,
both apply and the more protective requirement controls. Colorado then extends
its daily-break protection through the child's second year.
Space requires reasonable efforts measured by hardship
C.R.S. § 8-13.5-104(2) requires reasonable efforts toward a room or other
private location close to the work area, other than a toilet stall. “Reasonable
efforts” means effort that does not impose undue hardship. The hardship test
looks to significant difficulty or expense in relation to business size,
financial resources, nature and structure, and special public-safety
circumstances.
An employer that makes reasonable efforts is deemed compliant under
§ 8-13.5-104(3). That qualification applies to the accommodation effort; the
statute does not create a general headcount exemption from the daily time duty.
Colorado bars a toilet stall. Federal law goes further during its one-year
window by excluding the entire bathroom and requiring the place to be shielded
from view and free from coworker and public intrusion.
The state statute has no equipment checklist
Colorado's Act does not prescribe a chair, pump surface, outlet, sink, running
water, refrigerator, cooler, cleaning standard, hazard rule, lock, sign,
temporary/shared-space priority, or availability schedule. CDLE's INFO #7
separately explains federal functional-space expectations; those should not be
relabeled as Colorado statutory equipment duties.
Additional off-duty time may be unpaid
The Colorado statute expressly permits reasonable unpaid pumping time or use
of paid break or meal time. CDLE explains that regularly paid break time used
to pump remains paid and that salaried pay may not be reduced because of the
break. A pumping break may be unpaid only when the employee is completely
relieved from duty.
Federal § 218d(b) independently treats the entire break as hours worked if the
employee is not completely relieved. A contract, collective-bargaining
agreement, employer policy, or another wage rule may also require pay.
Mediation comes before a Colorado lawsuit
The Act prescribes no special request words, written form, advance-notice
period, response deadline, written denial, interactive process, handbook,
poster, employee notice, or recordkeeping duty.
Before an employee may litigate a violation, § 8-13.5-104(5) requires
nonbinding mediation between employer and employee. CDLE states that it does
not accept Act claims or administer that mediation; employees may file in
court after mediation. The Act does not specify the court, limitations period,
damages, civil penalty, attorney fees, cure period, or a separate operative
retaliation standard. Federal enforcement and remedies remain separate.
What trips people up
Colorado's two-year right is longer but not worded “each time needed.” The
state promises reasonable time “each day.” Federal law supplies the explicit
each-time-needed standard during the first year.
Reasonable effort is a defined space limitation. The employer is deemed
compliant after reasonable efforts, with hardship measured by significant
difficulty or expense. It is not an automatic exemption based only on employer
size.
CDLE information is not an administrative claim route. The statute directs
the department to publish information, but CDLE says it does not enforce the
Act or administer the required mediation.
Common questions
Must Colorado pumping breaks be paid?
Not every additional break. Colorado allows reasonable unpaid time or use of
paid break or meal time. Time remains paid when an ordinary paid break is used,
the employee continues working, salary rules apply, or another agreement or
law requires compensation.
Can the pumping room be a restroom without a toilet stall?
Colorado expressly bars a toilet stall, while federal law bars the entire
bathroom during its one-year coverage window. A restroom therefore does not
satisfy the federal floor even if the pumping area is separated from the stall.
Where does an employee file a Colorado Act claim?
CDLE says it does not accept these claims. The employee may file in court only
after nonbinding employer-employee mediation; the Act does not identify a
department-run mediation or special court procedure.
Statutes and sources
- C.R.S. §§ 8-13.5-103 and 8-13.5-104 — coverage, hardship, time, space,
reasonable-effort compliance, information, and mediation.An employer shall provide reasonable unpaid break time or permit an
employee to use paid break time, meal time, or both, each day ... for up to
two years after the child's birth.
Official source: https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-08.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
- Colorado Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, INFO #7 — official
interpretation of pay and the court/mediation route.
Employees can file claims in court ... but only after nonbinding employer-
employee mediation.
Official source: https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/INFO%20%237%20Workplace%20Accommodations%20for%20Nursing%20Mothers%2009.05.23%20accessible.pdf (accessed 2026-07-21)
- 29 U.S.C. § 218d(a), (b), and (h) — federal time, space, pay, and greater-
protection rules.
a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from
intrusion from coworkers and the public
Official source: https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title29-section218d&num=0&edition=prelim (accessed 2026-07-21)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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