Colorado pays OT after 12 consecutive hours — even if it crosses midnight.
Separate from the daily 12-hour rule, Colorado requires overtime for any 12 consecutive hours worked, regardless of when the workday starts. A shift from 8pm to 9am the next morning triggers OT for the 13th hour — even though the work spans two calendar days and neither day individually reaches 12 hours.
12 Consecutive Hour Overtime
Tracks shift-spanning hours toward Colorado's 12-consecutive-hour OT threshold, regardless of when the workday begins or whether it crosses midnight. Calculates 1.5× pay automatically.
What those rules do as a shift crosses 12 consecutive hours.
The hero card configuration: Avoid at 11 hours, Critical past 12, Flag on the timesheet. Here's what each does at runtime.
While building or editing the schedule, the manager sees a yellow indicator on shifts approaching 11 hours: "Trends past 11hr — consecutive OT after 12." Save proceeds.
Saving a shift longer than 12 consecutive hours requires explicit acknowledgment that consecutive-hour OT will apply. The save logs both the exposure and the manager who approved it.
Hour 12.01 onward of any consecutive run auto-tags as Consecutive OT. Payroll close shows it alongside daily and weekly OT, with the controlling premium calculated.
Deploy consecutive-hour OT in your Teambridge.
Tell us about your workforce. We'll spin up the consecutive-hour OT policy — alongside the other 17 Colorado policies — in a sandbox tenant scoped to your operations.
Twelve consecutive hours, regardless of clock.
The consecutive-hour rule is structurally distinct from daily OT. It looks at the actual continuous run of work, not the calendar day boundary.
What counts as 'consecutive'
Any continuous run of work — including periods where the worker is required to be on duty even if not actively working — counts toward the 12-hour total. A bona-fide unpaid meal break of 30+ minutes can interrupt the run, but a working lunch or short break does not.
Crossing midnight is no defense
The rule explicitly disregards calendar day boundaries. A shift starting at 11pm and ending at 12pm the next day is one 13-hour consecutive run, period.
Teambridge tracks consecutive hours separately from daily and weekly.
Three OT triggers, three independent calculations. The consecutive-hour calculation looks at actual shift duration without regard to calendar day.
Shifts > 11 hours raise the warning.
When a manager builds or extends a shift past 11 hours, an Avoid indicator surfaces. The next hour triggers consecutive OT. Action proceeds; the exposure is logged.
Calendar boundaries don't break the count.
A shift spanning midnight stays as one continuous run for consecutive-OT purposes. Teambridge does not split the timesheet across two days for the OT calculation.
Real clock-out time controls.
If a worker clocks out past their scheduled end and exceeds 12 consecutive hours, the OT auto-tags on the timesheet without manager intervention.
Highest premium wins.
On payroll close, Teambridge compares daily, weekly, and consecutive OT premiums for each workweek. The highest controls — and the comparison is shown in the close report.
Still evaluating? Get a free Colorado compliance audit.
Send us your existing Colorado scheduling and pay configuration. Our compliance team returns a written audit within 5 business days — every Colorado-specific exposure ranked by risk and back-pay liability.