Colorado PFML (FAMLI): Benefits, Eligibility, and Job Protection

Colorado’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, known as FAMLI, gives most Colorado workers up to 12 weeks of partially paid, job-protected leave each year to recover from a serious health condition, bond with a new child, care for an ill family member, or handle certain other qualifying events. Benefits have been payable since January 1, 2024. The current maximum weekly benefit is $1,381.45, and the program is run by the Division of Family and Medical Leave Insurance within the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.¹

Who’s Covered and When You Qualify

If you work for a private-sector employer in Colorado, you’re almost certainly enrolled automatically. Full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees are all covered, and so are state employees.² To draw benefits, you need at least $2,500 in wages subject to FAMLI premiums during roughly the year before your leave starts.³

Self-employed workers and independent contractors aren’t automatically covered, but they can opt in. The commitment is three years of premiums once you do.⁴

Local governments are the one category of employer that can vote to opt out of FAMLI entirely.⁵ If yours did, you can still participate on your own by paying premiums directly to the state.⁴

Reasons You Can Take FAMLI Leave

Seven kinds of leave are covered:⁶

Medical leave to recover from your own serious health condition.
Pregnancy leave for a pregnancy-related health condition.
Parental bonding leave after birth, adoption, or foster placement.
Caregiving leave for a family member with a serious health condition.
Safe leave to address the immediate needs of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault.
Military exigency leave when a family member is deployed or has deployment orders.
Neonatal care leave for an infant receiving intensive medical care in a facility.

If you experience pregnancy or childbirth complications, you can receive up to four additional weeks, for a total of 16 weeks in a year.⁷

How Much You’ll Get Paid

FAMLI uses a sliding scale that replaces a bigger share of income for lower earners. The first $735.67 of your average weekly wage is replaced at 90%. Anything above that is replaced at 50%, up to a weekly maximum of $1,381.45. That cap reflects 90% of Colorado’s average weekly wage of $1,534.94 for the 2025–2026 period and may be recalculated in mid-2026.⁸

How the math plays out:

At $600 per week, your whole wage sits under the threshold, so you’d receive about $540 (90% of $600).
At $1,200 per week, the first $735.67 is replaced at 90% ($662.10) and the remaining $464.33 at 50% ($232.17), for about $894.
At $2,500 per week, the formula exceeds the cap, so you’d receive the maximum $1,381.45.

There is no waiting period. Benefits start on your first day of covered leave.

How Long You Can Be Out

Most covered workers can take up to 12 weeks within a 12-month period, or 16 weeks with pregnancy or childbirth complications.⁷ The 12-month window is a rolling lookback: every time you file, the state looks at how much leave you’ve used in the preceding 12 months. You can’t save up weeks by timing claims around a calendar year. The cap also applies across all your employers if you hold more than one job.

You don’t have to take your leave in one block. Intermittent leave is allowed when your condition calls for it, and your healthcare provider certifies how many hours you can take in each reporting period.⁹

One quirk catches people off guard. You can file a claim for fewer than eight hours of leave, but wage replacement doesn’t start until you’ve accumulated at least eight hours. If you take short intermittent absences, your first payment may not arrive until a later claim pushes you across the eight-hour threshold.⁹

What It Costs You

FAMLI is funded through payroll premiums split between employer and employee. For 2026 the combined rate is 0.88% of wages: 0.44% from the employer and 0.44% from you.⁸ Premiums apply only to wages up to the Social Security wage cap, which is $184,500 for 2026.¹⁰

If your employer has nine or fewer employees, the business doesn’t have to pay the employer share. You still pay your 0.44%, and your employer forwards it to the state.¹¹ On a $60,000 salary, the employee share works out to about $264 a year, or roughly $5 a week.

How to File a Claim

Claims are filed through the My FAMLI+ online portal. You’ll need your Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and a government-issued photo ID. The portal may also ask you to match a selfie to your ID.¹²

Documentation by Leave Type

For medical or pregnancy leave, a licensed U.S. healthcare provider must complete and sign the Serious Health Condition form. If your provider is registered in My FAMLI+, the certification can happen entirely online. Otherwise, you download the form from inside your claim, bring it to your provider, and upload the completed version.¹³

For bonding leave, you need proof of the child’s date of birth or placement. A birth certificate, hospital birth documentation, or adoption and foster care paperwork all qualify.¹⁴

For safe leave, no court determination is required. A good-faith legal attestation that you are a survivor of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault is enough.¹⁵

Telling Your Employer and Waiting on a Decision

Give your employer at least 30 days’ notice when the leave is foreseeable. When it isn’t, you have up to 30 days after the leave begins to apply. Your employer will be notified of your claim and your leave dates, but the state does not share your private medical information with them.

The Division aims to process complete claims within two weeks. Your claim won’t be reviewed until every required document is uploaded, so sending everything at once is the fastest path. Payments arrive by direct deposit or prepaid debit card.¹²

Your Job Back and Protection From Retaliation

If you’ve worked for your employer for at least 180 days before your leave starts, you have the right to return to your old job or an equivalent one with equivalent pay and benefits. Your health insurance also continues during your leave.¹⁶

Your employer cannot retaliate against you for applying, taking leave, discussing FAMLI with coworkers, filing a complaint, or participating in an investigation. Retaliation covers firing, cutting your hours, and any discipline tied to your leave.¹⁶

If you believe your employer has interfered with your leave or retaliated, you can file a complaint with the FAMLI Division’s Job Protection and Retaliation Investigations Unit. The unit reviews complaints within 90 days. If the Division finds unlawful conduct, your employer may owe monetary damages and may be ordered to reinstate you.¹⁶ Keep a written record of your leave request, your employer’s responses, and any changes to your schedule or duties after you return. Those records matter if investigators get involved.

How FAMLI Fits With FMLA and Private Plans

When your leave qualifies under both FAMLI and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the two run concurrently rather than stacking. Your employer must deliver the FAMLI program notice within five days of learning about your qualifying event, and your employer cannot require you to use up FAMLI leave as a condition of accessing FMLA leave.¹⁷

FMLA offers unpaid, job-protected leave of up to 12 weeks but only applies to employers with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius. FAMLI covers nearly all Colorado workers regardless of employer size and adds wage replacement. If your employer is too small for FMLA, FAMLI still gives you job protection once you’ve been there 180 days.¹⁶

Some employers run their own paid leave plan instead of the state program. These private plans must be approved by the FAMLI Division and must be at least as generous as the state program: no higher premium cost to you, and the same protections and leave rights. If your employer uses an approved private plan, your claims may be handled by the employer’s insurance carrier rather than through My FAMLI+.¹⁸

Taxes on Your Benefits

FAMLI benefits are not subject to Colorado state income tax. Federal treatment is less settled; the IRS has indicated taxability may depend on individual circumstances. The Division issues a 1099-G to anyone who received at least $10 in benefits during the tax year, with the amount reported in Box 1 alongside unemployment compensation.¹⁹

You can choose to have 10% of your payments withheld for federal income tax. Without withholding, you may owe at filing time. A quick conversation with a tax advisor before your leave starts can prevent a surprise bill.¹⁹

If Your Claim Is Denied

Denials can be appealed through the My FAMLI+ portal. Your determination letter will explain the reason and your appeal rights. Before filing, check whether the denial was based on missing or incomplete documentation; supplying additional records often resolves the issue faster than a formal appeal. Pull together everything about the original decision so your appeal can be reviewed efficiently.²⁰

1
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Rules and Guidance
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Division of Human Resources. Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program – For Employees
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Individuals and Families
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Opting in to FAMLI
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Local Governments
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). My FAMLI Plus User Guide – Reasons for Leave
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Welcome to the Division of Family and Medical Leave Insurance
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Premium and Benefits Calculator
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). How FAMLI Leave Can Be Used
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Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Employers
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). My FAMLI Plus User Guide – Filing a Claim
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Medical Leave to Care for Yourself
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Parental (Bonding) Leave
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Safe Leave (Domestic Violence)
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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 Other Types of Leave
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Private Plan Guidance
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Individuals and Families FAQs
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Appeals