Tools · PTO Payout
Colorado PTO Payout Checker (2026)
Whether Colorado makes an employer pay out accrued, unused vacation or PTO when a job ends, applied to your own hours and rate.
Colorado PTO payout checker
The accrued, unused balance on your last pay stub or in the HR portal. One vacation day is usually 8 hours.
Salaried? Divide your annual salary by 2,080 (52 weeks of 40 hours) for an hourly figure.
Enter your unused hours and your rate to see the Colorado rule on your numbers.
When the final check itself is due is a separate deadline: the Colorado final paycheck checker shows it for a quit and for a firing.
Informational only, not legal advice. Sick leave, commissions, and bonuses follow different rules, and collective bargaining agreements can change the answer. For the timing rules and citations on the check itself, see the Colorado final paycheck reference; this record is cited to Colo. Rev. Stat. §8-4-101(14)(a)(III); Nieto v. Clark's Market, Inc., 2021 CO 48.
How the Colorado rule works
Colorado treats earned vacation as wages that must be paid when employment ends. Under the Colorado Wage Act as read by the state supreme court, a policy cannot make an employee forfeit vacation already earned. Nieto v. Clark's Market, Inc., 2021 CO 48, held forfeiture provisions for earned vacation void. Employers need not offer vacation and may set accrual rates and caps, but earned time must be paid out. CDLE guidance applies this to any paid leave usable at the employee's discretion.
This checker states the rule and prices your unused hours; it is informational only and not legal advice, and it does not decide whether your employer owes you. The other half of the question, when the final check itself must arrive, is covered by the Colorado final paycheck checker and the Colorado final paycheck reference.
PTO payout checkers for other states
Same tool, each with its own rule.