How to Complete Colorado's Know Your Rights Training, Step by Step
Colorado Know Your Rights training is a free, one-time online course that every direct care worker (caregiver) in the state is required to complete. Current workers have until March 31, 2027. Anyone hired after October 1, 2026 has six months from their hire date. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) built the course, it lives on the Direct Care Careers platform, and it's a single lesson.
At Caregivers First Choice (CFC), the local home care agency that employs family caregivers through Colorado Medicaid, we're asking every caregiver to finish it, and we pay for the time. The reasoning is fairly simple. A caregiver who understands overtime, travel time, and sick leave can check their own paycheck. We'd rather you hear the rules straight from the state than take our word for them.
Below are the seven steps, with screenshots, from creating an account to downloading your certificate.
Quick Facts:
Colorado Know Your Rights Training
Know Your Rights training at a glance
- Who takes it
- Colorado direct care workers
- Deadline for current workers
- March 31, 2027
- Deadline for new hires
- Six months from your hire date Applies if you were hired after October 1, 2026.
- Cost
- Free
- Length
- One lesson
- Pay
- When your employer requires it, CDLE says the time counts as time worked and must be paid.
- Proof
- A digital certificate that stays with you from job to job
What Does the Training Cover?
The course walks through the rights Colorado law gives direct care workers:
- Wages and overtime
- Paid sick leave and workplace protections
- Family and health care rights
- Travel time rules
- Civil rights at work
- How to file a complaint
- How to use the Direct Care Workforce website
Most of the family caregivers we enroll came to this work because a parent, spouse, or child needed care. Nobody hands them a labor law briefing on the way in. This course does, while ensuring you know your rights as an employee.
Note: the training is separate from the Direct Care Worker Notice of Rights, a written document from the Direct Care Workforce Stabilization Board and HCPF (the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing). Employers had to give that notice to current workers by July 1, 2026. The notice is something you receive. The training is something you complete.
Colorado Know Your Rights Training:
7 Steps With Screenshots
Use a phone or a computer. Have an email address ready that you can actually get into, because that's where your certificate goes.
Step 1: Go to the Colorado page on Direct Care Careers
Open directcarecareers.com/state/colorado. Direct Care Careers (DCC) is the online platform HCPF established for Colorado's direct care workforce, and it hosts the state's Learning Center.
Step 2: Create your account,
or log in
Find the box labeled "Sign up as a Direct Care Worker." Enter your last name, ZIP code, and email, then create and confirm a password. Select "Direct Care Worker" from the role list, check the box agreeing to the terms of use, and click "Create new account."
If you already have an account, skip the form and click "Login" at the top of the page.
Step 3: Open the Learning Center
Once you're logged in, click the green "Visit the Learning Center" button in the banner titled "Introducing The New Direct Care Careers Learning Center." The "Learning Center" item in the left-hand menu goes to the same place.
Step 4: Click "All Courses"
The Learning Center dashboard shows four cards. Click "All Courses" on the card labeled "Browse All Courses."
Step 5: Search for "Know Your Rights"
Type "Know Your Rights" into the search box. Open the course titled "Know Your Rights (Required for Direct Care Workers)." It's filed under Professional Development.
Step 7: Download your certificate
When you finish, go back to the course page, click your profile icon in the top right corner, and select "Certificates." Download the file. A copy also arrives by email shortly after you complete the course.
Shortcut: once you have an account and you're logged in, this link skips steps 3 through 5 and opens the course enrollment page directly: https://co.lms.directcarecareers.com/enrol/index.php?id=90
Your Know Your Rights Certificate Travels With You
The certificate is yours. Change agencies next spring or in 2031, show it to the new employer, and you won't have to retake the course. Save the file somewhere you'll find it again (your email, a folder on your phone, a cloud drive).
Your employer also has to keep proof that you finished, so send them a copy.
CFC caregivers: send your certificate to us and we will log and pay for your training time. Our internal target date is December 31st 2026, well ahead of the state deadline, so nobody's racing the calendar in late March.
Why We're Glad Colorado Built This
CDLE and HCPF did the lifting here. They wrote one standard course for the whole state, made it free, and made the certificate portable, so a caregiver learns these rights once and carries proof of it to every job in the field.
We'd like every CFC caregiver holding that certificate months before the deadline. Knowing your rights makes you a stronger professional, and family caregiving deserves to be treated as the profession it is.
CDLE also hosts live Q&A sessions on Zoom for workers who have questions after the training. Dates are posted on CDLE's Direct Care page.
For Direct Care Employers: Your Part of HB 25-1328
HB 25-1328, the 2025 Colorado law behind this requirement, puts the documentation burden on employers. The short version:
- Keep proof that each worker completed the training (a certificate PDF, a screenshot, a printout, or an email) going back 3 years.
- If CDLE's Division of Labor Standards and Statistics (DLSS) investigates and you can't produce documentation, the fine is $100 per violation.
- DLSS says employers who can show a good-faith effort to comply may avoid a fine for a first violation.
- Read the full requirements on CDLE's Know Your Rights training page and in the signed bill.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I get paid for the time I spend on the Know Your Rights training?
Yes, when your employer requires it. CDLE guidance says required training counts as time worked under Colorado law, so it must be paid. CFC pays its caregivers for this training.
I already finished the training for another employer. Do I have to take it again?
No. The certificate is portable, so give a copy to your new employer for their records.
I was just hired. When is my deadline?
If you were hired after October 1, 2026, you have six months from your hire date to complete the training or give your employer proof that you already did.
Is the Know Your Rights training the same as the Notice of Rights?
No. The Notice of Rights is a written document employers must give to direct care workers, while the Know Your Rights training is an online course you complete yourself on the Direct Care Careers platform.
0 Comments