DENVER, Colo. (Legal Newsline) - Workers can wait up to six years to file claims over alleged minimum-wage violations under Colorado law, an appeals court ruled, even though federal labor law has a shorter statute of limitations and employers are only required to keep payroll records for three years.
Samuel Perez sued By The Rockies LLC in 2022, claiming he had been shortchanged wages by the fast-food restaurant for meal and rest breaks in 2016 and 2017. A trial court dismissed the case, citing the Wage Claim Act, which has a two- or three-year statute of limitations based on the willfulness of an employer’s violations.
Perez appealed, arguing he was seeking damages under the Minimum Wage Act, which has no statute of limitations. That meant Colorado’s general statute of limitations is six years for claims over a “determinable amount of money.”
The Colorado Court of Appeals agreed with Perez in a Nov. 16 opinion by a majority written by Judge Neeti Pawar.
The Wage Claim Act specifies a statute of limitations only for article 4 of title 8 in the Colorado statutes, the judge ruled, while Perez brought his claim under article 6. By the Rockies argued both types of claims are private rights of action to recover unpaid wages, so the minimum wage statute of limitations should apply.
The appeals court rejected that argument, saying the legislature could have written that into the law, but didn’t. A bill to establish a two-year statute of limitations under the Minimum Wage Act was introduced this session but “indefinitely postponed,” the court observed in a footnote.
Federal courts have come to opposite conclusions about Colorado labor law, the majority noted, with one court in 2022 ruling the Wage Claim Act’s statute of limitations applied.
By The Rockies argued applying a longer statute of limitations would encourage “statute shopping” by plaintiffs. “We do not share By the Rockies’ concern,” the court said, however. The laws serve different purposes, with the Wage Claims Act ensuring workers are paid on time while the minimum wage law requires employers to pay enough to meet the cost of living, the court said.
Judge Terry Fox dissented, saying Colorado legislators revised state labor laws to bring them into compliance with the Federal Fair Labor Act, which has two- and three-year statutes of limitations. State labor regulations require minimum-wage violations to be registered within that time frame, he said, and employers are only required to keep payroll records for three years.