Colorado: Employer Requesting “estimated Hours” In Advance Instead Of Paying Actual Hours For Paycheck, Is This Legal?

Hi everyone,

I work in Colorado and need advice about my employer’s recent payroll practices, which feel concerning and deeply confusing...

Instead of using the timesheet I complete after I’ve worked my hours (the process we’ve followed so far), they now want me to estimate my hours for the upcoming week so they can issue my paycheck based on those estimates, and then adjust it to the actual amount in the subsequent paycheck, which makes zero sense to me and I'm certain it's going to mess with my wages somehow, because they keep messing up my paycheck already (On multiple occasions, I have requested they correct the misspelling of my name on my paycheck and paystub, my SSN, incorrectly low # of hours worked, and so on. They also are only paying me about 65% of my market rate and they're passive-aggressive AF to me; it's been a hard year to find full-time work in my profession. I'm trying SO hard to get out of there, believe me.

I’m worried this could lead to underpayment, especially since I often end up having to work way more hours than expected (I've only agreed to work 10 hours a week, but every week I'm given an unpredictable and highly variable workload and asked to work several more hours, I mean one time I even worked 30 hours, also I'm an hourly and nonexempt employee), and I suspect they might be trying to mess with my wages. I've been working there since July (it's now almost December) and they said that up until now they've been "lenient" with me submitting my timesheets with my actual hours up til now since I was new, even though I've never ever seen this policy in writing or even heard about it verbally from literally anyone.

Here’s where it gets worse: Another employee in the finance department accused me of stealing my own paycheck after the accountant brought in the paychecks and made sure I knew where she was putting there so I could pick it up. This was completely baseless, and it felt like they were trying to intimidate or harass me. Combined with the request for estimated hours, I’m starting to feel like they’re setting me up for trouble. Also now they're reaching out and calling me and leaving a voicemail on a Saturday night (I work 2 weekdays) to request my estimated hours for the next 2 weeks. I just think this is bizarre and inappropriate.

Is this a legal practice in Colorado for them to pay based on estimated hours rather than my actual hours worked? If they're saying they will add/subtract from the following week. Make it make sense. If they underpay me based on this system, what recourse do I have to ensure accurate wages? Are there specific Colorado laws I can reference to push back against this policy?

Any advice, especially from those familiar with Colorado labor laws, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!