Colorado FMLA and FAMLI Laws: Eligibility, Pay, and Job Protection

Colorado workers are covered by two leave laws that stack: the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which guarantees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected time off, and Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program, which pays a weekly benefit for up to 12 weeks of leave. Together, Colorado’s FMLA and FAMLI laws give most employees in the state 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave each year, because when you qualify under both, the two run at the same time rather than back to back. FAMLI reaches far more workers than the federal law, covers more family relationships, and recognizes situations FMLA ignores.

Who Qualifies

The two laws use very different eligibility rules, and plenty of Colorado workers who are shut out of FMLA still qualify for FAMLI.

Federal FMLA

To use FMLA, you need to meet three tests: at least 12 months of employment with your current employer, at least 1,250 hours worked in those 12 months, and an employer with at least 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite.¹ The 50-employee threshold excludes a lot of small-business workers.

If you work remotely, your home is not your worksite for that headcount. The Department of Labor treats your worksite as the office you report to or the location your assignments come from, and all employees reporting to that office — including other remote workers — count toward the 50.

Colorado FAMLI

FAMLI covers nearly every Colorado employee, regardless of employer size. You become eligible for benefits once you have earned at least $2,500 in wages subject to FAMLI premiums over roughly the past year.² There is no minimum tenure with any particular employer to collect the wage benefit. Self-employed people and independent contractors can opt in.

Job protection under FAMLI works on its own clock. Your employer only has to hold your position if you have been on the payroll more than 180 calendar days before leave begins.³ Those 180 days count payroll time, not hours worked. If you have been there less than 180 days, you can still collect the wage benefit, but your job is not guaranteed when you come back.

Reasons You Can Take Leave

Both laws cover the same core situations:

Your own serious health condition that keeps you from doing your job.
Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition.
Bonding with a new child after birth, adoption, or foster placement.
Qualifying exigencies when a family member is called to active military duty — things like short-notice deployments, childcare and legal arrangements, or attending official military events.⁴

FAMLI adds two categories federal law does not reach:⁵ safe leave for needs tied to domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault (medical care, legal help, counseling, safety planning), and neonatal care leave for a newborn who needs extended hospitalization after birth.

FAMLI’s Broader Family

Federal FMLA limits “family member” to your spouse, child, or parent. FAMLI reaches much further: spouse or domestic partner, children, parents (including stepparents and in-laws), grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, and any individual you share a significant personal bond with regardless of biology or legal relationship. That last piece means FAMLI leave is available to care for a close friend or chosen family member with a serious health condition.

How Much Time You Get

FMLA provides up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave in a 12-month period. Caring for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness increases that to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period.⁶

FAMLI provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year, with an additional four weeks available for pregnancy or childbirth complications, bringing the maximum to 16 weeks in those cases. You can take FAMLI leave all at once, intermittently, or as a reduced schedule.² Intermittent use is helpful for ongoing treatments like chemotherapy or physical therapy.

When you qualify under both laws, FMLA and FAMLI run concurrently. You do not get 12 weeks under one law followed by 12 more under the other.

How Much FAMLI Pays

FAMLI replaces a percentage of your wages while you are out, with lower earners getting a higher replacement rate. If your average weekly wage is at or below 50 percent of the state average weekly wage, you receive 90 percent of your wages. Above that threshold, you get 90 percent of the first half of the state average weekly wage plus 50 percent of the amount your wages exceed it. The maximum weekly benefit is $1,381.45.⁷

Your employer cannot force you to burn through accrued vacation, sick time, or other PTO before using FAMLI.² You can choose to top up FAMLI benefits with employer-paid leave, but that is your call.

FAMLI benefits are taxable at the federal level. Colorado reports what you received on IRS Form 1099-G and you include it on your federal return.⁸ If you itemize, you can deduct the premiums you contributed on Schedule A. If you take the standard deduction, you only report benefits that exceed your contributions.

Requesting Leave

When you can see the leave coming, FMLA regulations require at least 30 days’ notice. That applies to planned medical treatments, an expected birth, or a scheduled adoption or foster placement.⁹ If 30 days is not possible because of a sudden change or a medical emergency, tell your employer the same day you find out or the next business day.

The first time you ask for leave for a particular condition, you do not have to say “FMLA” or cite the statute. You do have to give enough information for your employer to recognize that the absence may qualify: what the medical situation is in general terms, when you expect to be out, and roughly how long.⁹ For later leave tied to the same condition, you do need to reference the earlier qualifying reason or mention FMLA. Ignoring your employer’s follow-up questions can cost you FMLA protection, so answer them even when they feel intrusive.

Medical Certification

Your employer can require a medical certification from your healthcare provider confirming a serious health condition. If the employer doubts it, the employer can require a second opinion from a different provider at the employer’s expense, and that provider cannot be someone the employer regularly uses.¹⁰ You remain provisionally entitled to leave and benefits while that opinion is pending. If the first and second opinions conflict, the employer can require a third, with the provider chosen jointly by you and the employer, and that opinion is final. The employer pays travel costs and generally cannot send you outside your normal commuting distance.

Getting Your Job Back

When FMLA leave ends, your employer must restore you to the same position or an equivalent one with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions.¹¹ “Equivalent” means genuinely comparable, not a demotion dressed in your old salary.

FAMLI applies the same protection once you have passed the 180-day employment mark. Your employer cannot fire you, demote you, cut your hours, or take other adverse action because you applied for or used FAMLI leave.¹²

If your job is eliminated while you are out, the employer has to show the elimination was part of a legitimate restructuring that would have happened anyway. Courts look closely at whether employees who did not take leave kept similar roles.

Key Employees

FMLA includes one narrow exception. If you are salaried and in the highest-paid 10 percent of all employees within 75 miles of your worksite, your employer can deny reinstatement, but only if bringing you back would cause “substantial and grievous economic injury” to its operations.¹³ That is a tough standard. The employer must notify you in writing as soon as it reaches that conclusion, explain its reasoning, and give you a chance to return before finalizing the denial.¹⁴ Skip the written notice and the employer loses the right to deny reinstatement. Even then, key employees cannot be denied the leave itself; only the guaranteed return of their job is at risk.

Your Health Insurance

Your employer must maintain your group health insurance during FMLA leave at the same level and on the same terms as if you were working.¹¹ If the usual split is 80/20, that split continues. You still owe your share, and falling behind can lead to a lapse in coverage. Any plan changes rolled out company-wide reach you the same as everyone else. FAMLI follows the same principle: taking paid leave through the state program should not interrupt your employer-sponsored coverage.

If you exhaust FMLA leave and decide not to come back, your employer can recover the premiums it paid during the unpaid portion.¹⁵ Two exceptions block that recovery: you cannot return because of a continuing or new serious health condition, or because of circumstances beyond your control, like a spouse’s transfer to a distant job or a layoff that hits while you are on leave. Choosing to stay home with a healthy newborn is not a circumstance beyond your control. You count as having returned to work once you are back for at least 30 calendar days, and after that the employer loses the right to claw back premiums. When your FMLA leave is covered by paid leave (including FAMLI), the employer cannot recover premiums for the paid portion.

Coordination With Other Benefits

A work injury covered by workers’ compensation can simultaneously qualify as a serious health condition under FMLA. When it does, your FMLA leave runs alongside your workers’ comp absence, so the 12-week clock ticks while you are receiving comp benefits. If the injury leaves a lasting impairment, you may also have rights to additional leave as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The employer must follow whichever law gives you the greater benefit in a given situation.

Private short-term disability insurance works separately from FAMLI. You generally cannot collect both for the same period, but you may be able to use them in sequence. After giving birth, for example, you might use short-term disability during the initial recovery and then switch to FAMLI for bonding time. Coordination rules depend on the specific disability policy, so read the plan terms.

If Your Employer Violates the Law

If your employer denies leave, refuses to reinstate you, or retaliates against you for using leave, your enforcement path depends on which law was broken.

For FMLA violations, you can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division or sue directly.¹⁶ Lawsuits have to be filed within two years of the violation, or three years if it was willful.¹⁷ Remedies can include lost wages, reinstatement, and attorney’s fees.

For FAMLI violations, you file a complaint with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s FAMLI Division. If the Division finds your employer acted unlawfully, the employer may owe monetary damages and may be ordered to reinstate you.¹² A denied FAMLI benefits claim can also be appealed through the Division’s appeals process.²

Document everything from the start. Keep copies of your leave request, your employer’s written responses, medical certifications, and any messages that look like retaliation. That paper trail is what separates a successful complaint from one that goes nowhere.

1
Family and Medical Leave Insurance – Colorado. FAMLI and FMLA
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Individuals and Families
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance – Colorado. Individuals and Families FAQs
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U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28M(c) – Qualifying Exigency Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance – Colorado. Reasons To Take FAMLI Leave
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2612 – Leave Requirement
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance – Colorado. Premium and Benefits Calculator
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IRS. Form 1099-G – Certain Government Payments
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eCFR. 29 CFR 825.302 – Employee Notice Requirements for Foreseeable FMLA Leave
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eCFR. 29 CFR 825.307 – Authentication and Clarification of Medical Certification; Second and Third Opinions
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2614 – Employment and Benefits Protection
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance – Colorado. Job Protection and Retaliation
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eCFR. 29 CFR 825.217 – Key Employee, General Rule
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eCFR. 29 CFR 825.219 – Rights of a Key Employee
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eCFR. 29 CFR 825.213 – Employer Recovery of Benefit Costs
16
U.S. Department of Labor. elaws – Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor – Enforcement of the FMLA
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2617 – Enforcement