How to Fill Out and File Colorado FAMLI Forms for Paid Leave

To file a Colorado FAMLI paid leave claim, create an account at the My FAMLI+ portal (myfamliplus.state.co.us), enter your personal and leave details, upload any required medical certification, and submit. Once your claim is fully submitted with all required documentation, the FAMLI Division has two weeks to approve or deny it.¹ There is no paper application and no waiting period before leave starts, though your first payment is not issued until you have missed at least one full week of work.²

Confirm You Qualify Before You File

You need to have earned at least $2,500 in total wages in Colorado during the five most recently completed calendar quarters before your leave starts.¹ That threshold is low enough that most part-time workers meet it. There is no minimum tenure with your current employer; the earnings test counts all your Colorado wages, not just your current paycheck.

FAMLI covers six categories of leave: your own serious health condition, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, bonding with a new child, needs arising from a family member’s active-duty military deployment, safe leave related to domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault, and leave tied to a newborn’s hospitalization or specialized care.³ Most eligible workers get up to 12 weeks per year, with up to four additional weeks for pregnancy or childbirth complications.¹

One boundary worth knowing before you file: self-employed people, S-Corp owners, and independent contractors are not automatically covered. You can voluntarily opt in through the My FAMLI+ Employer portal, but coverage is not retroactive, and you cannot file for benefits until you have reported wages and paid premiums for at least one full quarter.⁴

What to Have Ready Before You Open the Portal

Gather these items before you start the application:⁵

Your Social Security Number or ITIN. The portal uses it to verify your identity and pull your Colorado wage history.⁶
Current address, phone number, and an email address you actually check. The Division communicates through the portal and by email.
The start date and expected end date of your absence from work.
Your current employer’s name. The Division notifies your employer automatically once you file.⁵

If you are taking medical or caregiving leave, you also need a licensed healthcare provider lined up to complete a Serious Health Condition Form (covered below). If you are filing on someone else’s behalf, you must meet the FAMLI Division’s designated representative requirements.⁷

Filing the Claim in My FAMLI+

Go to myfamliplus.state.co.us and create a claimant account. All benefit claims go through this portal; there is no paper alternative.⁵ Once you are in, the portal walks you through entering personal details, selecting your leave reason from the six covered categories, and entering your leave dates.

When you submit, the system generates a confirmation number. Save it. That number is your reference for every future interaction with the Division about your claim. Your leave itself is effective from the date you specify, with no waiting period.¹

Before you file, it is worth running your numbers through the FAMLI premium and benefits calculator on the state website so you know what weekly payment to expect. For 2026, the first $735.67 of your average weekly wage is replaced at 90% and anything above that at 50%, up to a maximum weekly benefit of $1,381.45.⁸ Payments are issued weekly once your claim is approved.¹

The Serious Health Condition Form Is Where Claims Stall

If you are taking leave for your own health or to care for a family member’s health, a licensed healthcare provider must complete a Serious Health Condition Form. An incomplete or missing form is the single most common reason a claim is delayed.⁹

How the form gets back to FAMLI depends on your provider:

If your provider is registered in My FAMLI+, they receive a notification through the portal and certify your claim entirely online. Nothing is printed.
If your provider is not registered, you download and print the form from inside your claim in My FAMLI+, bring it to your provider to complete and sign, then scan and upload the signed form back into the portal.

On the form, the provider certifies what FAMLI calls the “absence parameter,” which lines up your condition with your typical work schedule and determines whether you take continuous, intermittent, or reduced-hours leave.¹⁰ If you already know your doctor’s office is not in the portal, print the form and bring it to the appointment rather than waiting for a notification that will never come.

After You Submit: Decision, First Payment, and Communication

The two-week decision clock only starts once your claim is fully submitted with all required documentation, including the Serious Health Condition Form where applicable.¹ If the Division needs more information, it will send a request through the portal and by email with a deadline. Missing that deadline can result in denial, so check your email and the portal regularly after you file.

Approved claims pay weekly. Your first payment is not released until you have missed at least one full week of work, which means the money arrives after the leave is already underway.² Plan your finances accordingly. The portal is also where you track claim status and payment history in real time.

One more thing to budget for: Colorado does not withhold federal income tax from FAMLI payments. Family leave benefits are fully included in federal gross income and reported on a Form 1099; medical leave benefits are partly taxable depending on how your premiums were split between you and your employer.¹¹ Set money aside or adjust your W-4 at work if you expect a large benefit.

Job Protection During Leave

FAMLI gives you the right to return to your job (or an equivalent one with equivalent pay and benefits) if you have worked for your current employer for at least 180 days before taking leave.¹² If you have been there fewer than 180 days, you can still receive the wage-replacement benefit, but the job-protection guarantee does not apply. That is a separate question from whether you can file; eligibility for benefits and eligibility for job protection are judged independently.

If Your Claim Is Denied

You can appeal through the My FAMLI+ portal by selecting “File or Manage an Appeal” from your account dashboard.¹³ Have the details of the denial decision in front of you before you start.

Two situations drive most appeals: an incomplete Serious Health Condition Form, or wage records that did not show enough qualifying earnings. Both are fixable with better documentation. If your denial came from a paperwork gap, pull the corrected documents together before you open the appeal so you can upload them in the same session.

1
Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Individuals and Families FAQs
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). What to Expect from Your First FAMLI Payment
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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). My FAMLI+
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). My FAMLI+ User Guide: Filing A Claim
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My FAMLI+. My FAMLI+ Benefits Portal
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Premium and Benefits Calculator
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Medical Leave to Care for Yourself
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Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Health Care Providers
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Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 2025-4
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Job Protection and Retaliation
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Appeals