State file — Colorado
Severance itself is almost never required by law — but the paper around your exit is. In Colorado, three state rules shape your negotiation: when your last paycheck must arrive, whether a non-compete can follow you to your next job, and what notice a layoff required. If you are 40 or older, the federal clocks (21 or 45 days, plus 7 days to change your mind after signing) apply on top of everything here.
Federal rule only - no Colorado state law giving a general time to consider or revoke a severance/settlement agreement was found. (Do not confuse this with Colorado's 14-day advance-notice rule for non-compete covenants under C.R.S. 8-2-113(4), which is a non-compete rule, not a severance consideration/revocation clock.)
Run the deadline checker — it counts the federal clock and Colorado's clock together and gives you the dates.
Void by default, with narrow exceptions. A non-compete is permissible only for a worker who, both when the covenant is entered and when it is enforced, earns annualized cash compensation at or above the highly-compensated-worker threshold set annually by CDLE - $130,014 for 2026 ($127,091 for 2025) - AND the covenant is for the protection of trade secrets and no broader than reasonably necessary to protect that interest. Customer non-solicitation threshold is 60% of that figure ($78,008.40 for 2026). Separate signed written notice is required (before a prospective worker accepts employment; for current workers at least 14 days before the earlier of the covenant's effective date or the consideration change). Sale-of-business and other subsection (3) exceptions also exist. 2025 change (SB 25-083, eff. Aug. 6, 2025): non-competes / non-solicits are now void for physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, certified nurse-midwives and dentists, regardless of pay.
Why it matters at the exit table: a non-compete you sign on the way out can matter more than the severance check. If the clause would block your next job, narrowing it is one of the most common — and most granted — negotiation asks.
Terminated by the employer: wages/compensation earned, vested, determinable and unpaid are due and payable IMMEDIATELY. If the employer's accounting unit is not scheduled to be operating, pay no later than 6 hours after the start of the accounting unit's next regular workday; if the accounting unit is off-site, deliver no later than 24 hours after the start of its next regular workday. (Quit: next regular payday.)
Unused vacation: Yes - earned, unused vacation pay is wages. Colorado law (Wage Act definition of wages as construed in Nieto v. Clark's Market, 2021) requires payout of earned, vested vacation pay on separation; 'use-it-or-lose-it' forfeiture of earned vacation is not permitted (secondary sources).
Final pay is owed whether or not you sign anything. If the date passes without your money, your state labor agency takes these complaints — and many states add penalties for every day of delay.
Colorado has no state layoff-notice law of its own, so the federal WARN Act is the rule: employers with 100+ workers generally owe 60 days' notice of a plant closing or mass layoff (50+ jobs at one site).
Notice failures have their own remedies (back pay for each day of missed notice, in the federal law's case) — separate from the severance agreement, and worth a question if your layoff was large and sudden.
Included in the $49 SeveranceDecoded Kit
One payment. Yours to keep. Works for any severance agreement, any state.
Back to severance laws by state · the deadline checker