How Long Is Maternity Leave in Colorado? FAMLI Weeks, Eligibility, and Pay

Maternity leave in Colorado runs up to 12 weeks of paid leave through the state’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program, and up to 16 weeks if you have pregnancy or childbirth complications. Your job is protected if you’ve worked for your employer for at least 180 days before leave begins. The same 12-week bank covers bonding with a newborn, recovering from pregnancy, and other qualifying family or medical reasons, so all approved leave draws from one pool.¹

How Many Weeks You Can Take

The standard FAMLI leave is 12 weeks per benefit year. Your benefit year starts on the first day of your approved leave. Those 12 weeks can be used to bond with a newborn, a newly adopted child, or a child newly placed in foster care, and the same bank covers your own serious medical condition, including recovery from childbirth.

If you experience pregnancy or childbirth complications, you can receive up to four additional weeks, bringing the total to 16. The extension requires medical documentation confirming the complications.

You don’t have to take the time in one block. FAMLI allows intermittent leave, so you can take days or partial weeks as needed, which can help with postpartum appointments or easing back into work. However you divide it, your total paid leave can’t exceed 12 weeks (or 16 with complications) in the same benefit year.¹²

Will Your Job Be Protected

Job protection under FAMLI depends on how long you’ve been with your employer. If you’ve been employed for at least 180 days before leave begins, your employer must restore you to the same position or an equivalent role with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions.³

If you’ve worked for your employer fewer than 180 days, you can still receive FAMLI benefit payments, but you don’t have the same statutory right to reinstatement. In that case, your employer is not legally required to hold the position open while you’re on leave.

Your employer must also maintain any health-care benefits you had before leave began for the entire time you’re receiving FAMLI benefits. You remain responsible for your share of the premium, just as you would while actively working.³

Who Qualifies and How Much FAMLI Pays

Most Colorado employees qualify for FAMLI after earning at least $2,500 in wages subject to FAMLI premiums over roughly the prior year. Unlike the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, FAMLI has no minimum employer size. Whether you work for a large corporation or a small shop, you can file once you meet the earnings threshold.¹

FAMLI replaces part of your income on a sliding scale tied to your average weekly wage over the prior five calendar quarters:

The first $735.67 of your average weekly wage is replaced at 90 percent.
Any amount above $735.67 is replaced at 50 percent.

Combined weekly benefits are capped at $1,381.45 for the 2025–2026 benefit period. Someone earning $700 per week would receive about $630 per week; someone earning $2,000 per week would receive the maximum $1,381.45. Payments are issued weekly, and there is no waiting period before they begin.⁴⁵

How FAMLI Stacks With Federal FMLA

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth or placement of a child. FMLA pays nothing, but it guarantees your right to return and requires your employer to continue group health coverage during leave.[/mfm]⁶

FMLA eligibility is narrower than FAMLI. You must meet all three conditions:

Your employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles of your worksite.
You’ve worked for this employer for at least 12 months.
You’ve logged at least 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before leave starts.⁷

When you qualify for both, FAMLI and FMLA run at the same time rather than back to back. Your 12 weeks of paid FAMLI leave also count as your 12 weeks of FMLA leave, so the two don’t combine into 24 weeks. If you receive the four-week pregnancy-complication extension under FAMLI, those extra weeks fall outside FMLA, which caps at 12.⁸

If your employer has fewer than 50 employees, you likely won’t qualify for FMLA, but you can still receive FAMLI payments. And once you’ve been with that employer for 180 days, you have job protection under the state statute.

How and When to File a Claim

You can open a planned FAMLI claim up to 30 days before leave starts and up to 30 days after. If you file between 31 and 90 days after your leave began, the state will consider the claim only if you can show good cause for the delay.⁵

Claims are submitted through the My FAMLI+ portal, which requires an identity-verified account through Login.gov. You’ll enter personal details including your name, date of birth, and Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.⁹¹⁰

For medical leave, including pregnancy recovery, your licensed healthcare provider must complete a serious health condition certification form. The form is generated through My FAMLI+ and is unique to your claim; you download it from the portal after starting the filing process. Providers already registered in the system can certify your claim electronically.¹¹

During submission, you choose how to receive payments: direct deposit, which is generally faster, or a state-issued debit card. Once your claim is fully submitted with all required paperwork, the FAMLI Division has two weeks to approve or deny it. Approved payments go out weekly with no waiting period.⁵

1
Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Individuals and Families
2
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 8 Section 8-13.3-505 – Duration
3
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Title 8 Section 8-13.3-509
4
Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Premium and Benefits Calculator
5
Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Individuals and Families FAQs
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2612 – Leave Requirement
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2611 – Definitions
8
Family and Medical Leave Insurance. FAMLI and FMLA
9
Family and Medical Leave Insurance. My FAMLI Plus User Guide – Getting Started
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance. My FAMLI Plus User Guide – Filing a Claim
11
Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Medical Leave to Care for Yourself