Colorado Paid Family Leave: Benefits, Claims, and Job Protection

Colorado Paid Family Leave, officially the Family and Medical Leave Insurance program (FAMLI), gives most workers in the state up to 12 weeks of partial-wage benefits each year for a new child, a serious health condition, caregiving for a family member, safe leave related to domestic violence, or a family member’s military call-up. Benefits started in January 2024, and as of mid-2025 the maximum weekly payment is $1,381.45.¹ You apply through the state’s My FAMLI+ portal.

Who Qualifies

You’re eligible for FAMLI benefits if you’ve earned at least $2,500 in Colorado wages over the last five completed calendar quarters.² That threshold is low, so most part-time and seasonal workers clear it. There’s no minimum hours-per-week requirement, and you don’t need any specific tenure with your current employer to receive the money. Tenure matters only for job protection, covered below.

Workers at small businesses are covered just like anyone else. The only difference sits with the employer: businesses with fewer than ten employees don’t have to pay the employer half of the premium, though they still withhold and remit the employee’s share.³

Local Government Employees

Local governments can vote to opt out of FAMLI. If yours did, you can still opt in on your own by registering in My FAMLI+, paying 0.45% of your wages each quarter, and committing to at least three years. Benefits become available after one quarter of reported wages and premiums.⁴ One significant limit: if you opt in individually through an opted-out local government, you don’t get FAMLI job protection while you’re on leave.²

Self-Employed Workers

Coverage is optional if you’re self-employed. You can opt in at any time, but once you do you’re committed to paying premiums (the employee share, based on your reported income) for at least three years.⁵

What Leave You Can Take

FAMLI covers five categories of life events. Some involve your own health; others are for caregiving or family circumstances.

Your own serious health condition: an illness, injury, or condition involving inpatient care or ongoing treatment that prevents you from doing your job.
Bonding with a new child during the first year after a birth, adoption, or foster placement.
Caring for a family member with a serious health condition. Colorado defines family broadly: spouses, domestic partners, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, and anyone whose close relationship with you is the equivalent of a family bond.
Safe leave to deal with the effects of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault.
Military exigency to handle urgent matters when a family member is called to active duty.

Longer Leave for Pregnancy Complications

The standard duration is 12 weeks per benefit year. If you have a complicated pregnancy or childbirth, you can receive up to 16 weeks. A licensed healthcare provider must verify a serious health condition related to the complication, and the birthing parent files a separate FAMLI claim listing their own serious health condition as the reason.⁶

How Much You’ll Receive

Your weekly benefit is calculated against the state average weekly wage, which is $1,534.94 as of July 1, 2025 and typically updates each July.¹ The formula has two tiers. The first half of that state average (currently $767.47) is replaced at 90%. Any portion of your earnings above that is replaced at 50%. The weekly cap is $1,381.45.

In practice, if your average weekly wage is $1,000, you receive 90% of the first $767.47 plus 50% of the remaining $232.53, which comes to roughly $807 per week. A worker earning at or below $767.47 per week collects 90% of their full wage.

Benefits run up to 12 weeks within a benefit year, with the 16-week pregnancy-complication extension noted above.

What You Pay In

FAMLI is funded by a payroll premium of 0.88% of wages, split evenly between employer and employee at 0.44% each. Some employers choose to cover the whole premium.⁷ Premiums only apply to wages up to the federal Social Security wage cap, which is $184,500 for 2026.⁸ For a worker earning $60,000, the employee share runs about $264 a year.

How to File a Claim

To start a claim you need your Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, your employer’s name, and a general start date for leave.⁹ Medical leave (yours or a family member’s) requires a Serious Health Condition certification completed by a healthcare provider. Bonding leave eventually requires documentation like a birth certificate or adoption papers.

Notify your employer at least 30 days in advance when the leave is foreseeable. For emergencies, notify as soon as practical.

File through the My FAMLI+ portal at myfamliplus.state.co.us. You create an account, verify your identity, and work through five steps covering personal details, employment, leave details, payment setup, and review.¹⁰ You’ll receive a confirmation number for tracking.

Once your claim is approved, you choose between direct deposit and a state-issued ReliaCard debit card.¹¹ For continuous leave, your first payment doesn’t go out until you’ve missed at least one full week of work. Watch the portal for document requests; delays in responding will hold up payments.

Job Protection

FAMLI leave is job-protected only if you’ve worked for your employer at least 180 days (about six months) before your leave starts.² If you meet that threshold, your employer must hold your position (or an equivalent one with the same pay and benefits) and must keep your health insurance in place while you’re out.¹²

It’s unlawful for an employer to fire you, cut your hours, or discipline you for applying for or taking FAMLI leave, discussing FAMLI with coworkers, or filing a complaint. If you believe you were retaliated against, you can file a complaint with the FAMLI Division’s Job Protection and Retaliation Investigations Unit. The unit reviews complaints within 90 days, and an employer found to have acted unlawfully may owe damages and be required to reinstate you.

Workers with less than 180 days of tenure can still collect FAMLI payments. They just don’t have the statutory right to return to the same job.

How FAMLI Interacts with Other Leave

If your leave also qualifies under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the two run at the same time. Twelve weeks of FAMLI uses up your 12 weeks of FMLA concurrently rather than back to back.¹³

Your employer can’t require you to burn through accrued vacation or sick time before taking FAMLI. Some employers do allow you to use PTO to top off your FAMLI payment so your combined income matches a normal paycheck, but that’s up to the employer.¹⁴

How FAMLI meshes with a private short-term disability policy depends on the policy. Some disability plans require you to exhaust FAMLI first; some count FAMLI payments against the disability benefit; some do neither. Your employer must give written notice of any such restrictions before they take effect.¹⁵

Taxes on Your Benefits

Federal tax treatment was clarified by IRS Revenue Ruling 2025-4 and depends on whether you took medical or family leave. For medical leave (your own serious health condition), the portion funded by your own premium contributions is excluded from federal gross income, while the portion funded by employer contributions is taxable as third-party sick pay.¹⁶ Under the standard 50/50 split, roughly half of a medical leave benefit is federally tax-free and half is taxable.

For family leave (bonding, caregiving, safe leave, military exigency), the entire benefit is included in federal gross income. The state issues a Form 1099 when payments total $600 or more in a year.¹⁶

All FAMLI benefits are exempt from Colorado state income tax regardless of the type of leave.¹⁷

If Your Claim Is Denied

You have two chances to challenge a denial. First, request reconsideration through My FAMLI+ by going to your Claim Details page and following the prompts. You have 49 days from the original determination, with up to another 49 days available for good cause.¹⁸

If reconsideration doesn’t resolve it, the portal’s “Request Reconsideration” button turns into an “Appeal” button, and you can file a formal appeal and communicate with the hearings officer through the same system.¹⁹ Filing an appeal is a legal action, so you may want to consult an attorney if the amount in dispute is meaningful.

If Your Employer Uses a Private Plan

Not every Colorado employer uses the state fund. Employers can get approval to run a private plan, either through a commercial insurer or by self-insuring, and the plan must match or exceed the state program on duration, wage replacement, conditions, and paycheck deductions.²⁰ If your employer uses one, you may file through a third-party administrator rather than My FAMLI+, but your rights and benefit levels should be at least equivalent. You can still appeal a private plan decision through the state by creating an appeals account in My FAMLI+.¹⁹ Employers must notify workers at least 30 days before switching to a private plan.

1
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Rules and Guidance
2
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Individuals and Families FAQs
3
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Small Business Corner
4
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). FAQs for Local Governments
5
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Opting In to FAMLI
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Parental (Bonding) Leave
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Employers
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Premium and Benefits Calculator
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). My FAMLI+
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). My FAMLI+ User Guide – Filing a Claim
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). My FAMLI+ User Guide – Next Steps
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Job Protection and Retaliation
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). FAMLI and FMLA
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Employer FAQs
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). FAMLI and Other Types of Leave
16
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2025-4
17
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). IRS Tax Guidance
18
Cornell Law Institute. 7 CCR 1107-3.11 – Benefits Reconsiderations
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Appeals
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Private Plans