What Does Workers’ Comp Cover in Colorado?

The first 10 days after a work injury set up almost everything that follows: whether your notice is on time, which doctor you see, and how quickly wage checks start. Colorado workers’ compensation covers more than most people expect, including mileage to appointments and scarring, and less than they assume, since it never pays for pain and suffering. This post lays out what the system pays in 2026, where the gaps are, and what can cut benefits short. A workers’ compensation lawyer in Denver from Boesen Law can check whether you are getting every benefit owed, and our experience is the difference when an insurer starts saying no.

The First 10 Days After a Work Injury

What you do in the first days after getting hurt protects the benefits described further down. These steps come in roughly the order they happen:

1. Get emergency care if you need it. In an emergency, go to the closest emergency room. The employer’s doctor list comes into play once the emergency is over.
2. Report the injury in writing within 10 days. Colorado moved this deadline from four days to ten in 2022 under House Bill 22-1112. Late notice can cost up to one day of compensation for each day of delay, but not if your employer already knew about the injury or you had good cause. Your employer must give you a date-stamped copy of your written notice within seven days.
3. Pick a doctor from the designated provider list. Your employer must give you a written list of up to four providers within seven business days of learning about the injury. If no list arrives in that window, the Division of Workers’ Compensation says you may choose your own doctor.
4. Consider filing your own claim form. You can file a Worker’s Claim for Compensation (WC 15) directly with the state, which can protect some of your rights even if your employer drags its feet.
5. Keep a log. Write down missed shifts, appointment times, and every mile driven for treatment.
6. Ignore anyone who asks you to pay to get benefits. The Colorado Division of Workers’ Compensation has warned of scammers posing as state staff or judges and demanding fees. Neither the state nor a legitimate insurer charges you to release benefits.

Getting these steps right early means fewer fights later, and Boesen Law can step in at any point in this window to handle the notice, the paperwork, and the insurer.

For answers to your questions, call:
(303) 999-9999

What Colorado Workers’ Comp Pays

Workers’ comp pays benefits in defined categories, each with its own formula. The figures below come from the state’s 2026 Maximum Benefits Order, which applies to injuries on or after July 1, 2026.

• Medical care. Reasonable and necessary treatment from authorized providers, including emergency care, surgery, therapy, medication, and follow-up care.
• Temporary total disability (TTD). Two thirds of your average weekly wage while your doctor keeps you off work or your employer cannot meet your restrictions. The 2026 maximum is $1,464.12 a week, which you reach once your pre-injury wage is at least $2,196.18 a week. As an illustration only, a worker averaging $900 a week would receive about $600 a week.
• Temporary partial disability (TPD). Two thirds of the gap between your normal wages and what you earn on light duty or reduced hours, including time lost to medical appointments.
• Permanent partial disability (PPD). Paid after maximum medical improvement based on your impairment rating. Scheduled injuries to arms, legs, hands, feet, eyes, and hearing pay at $459.45 a week for a set number of weeks, while whole person ratings for the spine, lungs, or mental function pay between $150 and $804.46 a week.
• Permanent total disability (PTD). For a worker who can no longer earn any wages, paid at the TTD rate.
• Disfigurement. Up to $7,750.99 for visible scarring, and up to $15,499.23 for extensive facial or body scars, burn scars, or amputation stumps.
• Mileage. Reimbursement for travel and parking tied to medical care and prescriptions, requested within 120 days of the trip.
• Death benefits. Weekly payments to eligible dependents up to $1,464.12, plus up to $14,891.25 for funeral and burial costs.

The types of disability in a workers’ comp case overlap in ways that confuse many injured workers, and the state caps combined temporary disability and permanent partial disability payments at $202,297.46 for whole person ratings of 19% or less and $328,049.94 at 20% or more. Boesen Law checks every calculation, starting with how the insurer figured your average weekly wage.

What Workers’ Comp Will Not Cover

The gaps in coverage are just as important as the benefits, because they are where money goes missing. Colorado workers’ comp will not pay for:

1. Pain and suffering. There is no payment for physical pain, emotional distress, or loss of enjoyment of life, which are standard damages in a personal injury lawsuit.
2. Your full paycheck. Wage benefits replace two thirds of your average weekly wage, up to the state maximum. The last third, and anything above the cap, is simply lost.
3. The first three shifts. Wage benefits start after you miss three shifts. That waiting period is paid back only if you are off more than two weeks.
4. Care from unauthorized doctors. Outside an emergency, treatment from a doctor who is not on the designated list or properly referred can go unpaid.
5. Punitive damages. Comp does not punish an employer, even a careless one.
6. Half of your non-medical benefits in some cases. Violating a known safety rule, or testing positive for alcohol or unauthorized drugs after the injury, can cut non-medical benefits by 50%.

If a gap on this list is costing you, it is worth asking Boesen Law whether someone outside your employer caused the injury, because that changes what is available.

When Benefits Get Reduced or Stopped

Benefits do not always run until you feel better. A few specific events change what the insurer pays, and each one can be challenged.

Maximum Medical Improvement

Once your authorized doctor decides further treatment will not improve your condition, temporary disability ends and the case shifts to impairment. If you disagree with the rating, either side can request a Division Independent Medical Examination. The timing of that decision also affects how long a workers’ comp settlement takes in Colorado.

Offsets From Other Benefits

You have to tell the adjuster about unemployment, Social Security Disability, and employer-paid disability benefits, and some of those can reduce your comp payments. The state’s page on potential workers’ comp benefits lists the offsets. If you lose employer health insurance because of the injury, report that too, since it can raise your benefit rate.

Missed Appointments and Return to Work

Wage checks can stop if you return to work at your old wage, get a release to regular or modified duty, or miss a rescheduled appointment after being told benefits depend on it. For any other reason, the insurer has to formally request to modify, suspend, or end your benefits. We track every one of these triggers so a suspension does not go unanswered.

Pain and Suffering: When a Case Reaches Outside Comp

Workers’ comp is the only remedy against your employer, but it is not the only remedy against everyone else. When a negligent outside company causes an injury, a separate claim can recover what comp leaves out. Under C.R.S. § 8-41-203, the comp insurer can seek repayment from that recovery, but not from the portion paid for pain and suffering, inconvenience, emotional stress, or lost quality of life.

The same negligence rules protect people who are hurt by a company’s work in their own home. Whether you need a workers’ comp lawyer or a personal injury lawyer depends on who caused the harm, and Boesen Law handles both kinds of claims under one roof.

An Attorney Perspective on Getting Everything Comp Owes

Scott Ash, who has spent almost thirty years representing injured and disabled Coloradans, notes:

“Most of the underpayments I see are not dramatic denials. They are a wage rate figured without overtime, a mileage request nobody told the worker to file, or an impairment rating that ignored half the injury. Workers trust that the insurer did the math right, and often it did not. My first job on a new file is to rebuild the average weekly wage from the pay stubs, because every benefit on the list is built on that number.”

He also looks for any outside party who played a role, since that is the only route to damages comp will not pay.

What Cases Like Yours Have Recovered

Some of the strongest recoveries come from claims against a company whose work created the hazard. When Comcast was making repairs in a crawl space reached through a client’s closet, the client fell and broke a femur, ribs, and pelvis. Boesen Law secured $250,000 for the family after the client passed away from Alzheimer’s while the case was still pending. That was a negligence claim, not workers’ comp, and it shows the kind of recovery that sits outside the comp system. More examples are on our case results page.

Contact Boesen Law About Your Workers’ Comp Benefits

We fight for more than the basics. That means checking the wage rate, the impairment rating, and every reimbursement, and looking past the comp claim for anyone else who should pay.

Contact Boesen Law for a free, in-person consultation. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been recovered for clients across Colorado, and there is no fee unless we win your case.

FAQs About What Workers’ Comp Covers in Colorado

What does workers’ comp pay in Colorado?

Colorado workers’ comp pays for authorized medical care and replaces two thirds of your average weekly wage while you cannot work, up to $1,464.12 a week for injuries on or after July 1, 2026. It also pays permanent impairment benefits, disfigurement awards, mileage for medical travel, and benefits to dependents after a fatal injury.

Can you sue for pain and suffering in Colorado after a work injury?

Not against your employer. Workers’ comp is the exclusive remedy there, and it does not pay for pain and suffering. You can seek pain and suffering damages from a negligent third party, such as an equipment maker, a driver, or a contractor who is not your employer.

What are the rules for workers’ compensation in Colorado?

Almost every Colorado employer with one or more employees, part-time or full-time, must carry coverage. You should give written notice within 10 days, treat with a provider from your employer’s designated list, and in most cases get a claim on file no later than two years after the accident (C.R.S. § 8-43-103). Immigration status does not affect eligibility.

Are workers’ comp benefits taxable in Colorado?

No. The Colorado Division of Workers’ Compensation states that workers’ comp benefits are not taxable. Other benefits you receive at the same time, such as unemployment, may still affect the amount you are paid.

Does workers’ comp cover back injuries from lifting?

Yes, if the injury arose out of and in the course of your work. Insurers often dispute work-related back injuries by pointing to age or prior problems, so prompt written notice and consistent treatment records carry extra weight.

Call (303) 999-9999 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form