By the Rockies, LLC v. Perez.

2025 CO 56. No. 23SC956. Labor and Industry—Colorado Wage Claim Act—Limitation of Actions—Colorado Minimum Wage Act—Recovery of Balance of Minimum Wage—Courts and Court Procedures—General Limitation of Actions Six Years.

September 15, 2025

This case required the supreme court to decide which statute of limitations applies to claims asserted under the Minimum Wage Act, CRS § 8-6-118. The Minimum Wage Act itself is silent on this topic. The district court concluded that the two- or three-year limitations period set forth in the Wage Claim Act, CRS § 8-4-122, applies. It then granted a motion to dismiss Perez’s complaint as untimely because it was undisputed that Perez filed his complaint five years after By the Rockies, LLC allegedly violated the Minimum Wage Act.

A split division of the court of appeals reversed the district court’s judgment. It concluded that the default six-year limitations period set forth in CRS § 13-80-103.S(1)(a), which applies to claims seeking to recover a “liquidated debt or an unliquidated, determinable amount of money” applies to claims brought under the Minimum Wage Act. Perez v. By the Rockies, LLC, 2023 COA 109, ¶ 8, 543 P.3d 1054, 1055 (quoting § 13-80-103.5(1)(a)).

The supreme court granted certiorari to resolve which limitations period applies. It concluded that the two- or three-year statute of limitations period in the Wage Claim Act applies to claims brought under the Minimum Wage Act. Accordingly, the court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals and remanded the case to the division with directions to reinstate the district court’s order of dismissal.