Colorado Leave of Absence Laws: HFWA, FAMLI, and FMLA

Colorado leave of absence laws give workers several overlapping paths to time off, some paid and some unpaid. The main pieces are the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA), which requires paid sick leave from every employer; the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program, which replaces wages for longer absences; and federal laws including the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Colorado also carves out specific protections for jury service, voting, and crime victims. Which law you use depends on why you need leave, how long you’ll be out, and how big your employer is.

Paid Sick Leave Under HFWA

HFWA is the broadest law of the group. Every private employer in Colorado, and every state and local government employer, must provide paid sick leave. Part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers are covered from their first day. Only federal government employees fall outside it.¹

You accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours per year. Employers can be more generous but not stingier.² The reasons you can use it are wide: your own illness or injury, a family member’s health needs, preventive care, and situations involving domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault.

Documentation is limited. Your employer can only ask for proof if you miss four or more consecutive workdays, and a note from a healthcare provider or relevant public health guidance is enough. Denying paid sick leave or retaliating against a worker who uses it carries a penalty of at least $1,000, or $3,000 for willful violations, plus back pay.³

Paid Family and Medical Leave Through FAMLI

FAMLI is the state program for longer, life-event absences. You can take FAMLI leave to bond with a new child, recover from a serious health condition, care for a family member with a serious health condition, deal with a family member’s military deployment, or handle safety needs after domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault.⁴

Who Qualifies

Most Colorado workers are eligible. You need to have earned at least $2,500 in wages within Colorado over the five most recently completed calendar quarters, which is roughly 15 months.⁵ Unlike FMLA, there is no employer-size threshold and no requirement that you’ve worked for your current employer for any set period. Part-time and seasonal workers count.

How Much It Pays

FAMLI uses a tiered wage replacement formula. The first $767.47 of your average weekly wage (50% of the state average weekly wage) is replaced at 90%. Anything above that is replaced at 50%, up to a maximum weekly benefit of $1,381.45.⁶ Those figures are based on the state average weekly wage effective July 1, 2025, and may adjust mid-2026. Lower earners receive a higher percentage of their pay.

How Long You Can Take

You can take up to 12 weeks of FAMLI leave per year. Complications from pregnancy or childbirth can add up to four more weeks, bringing the total to 16.⁵

Starting January 1, 2026, parents of a newborn admitted to a neonatal unit or higher level of care can take up to 12 additional weeks of paid neonatal care leave. That leave is separate from bonding leave, and bonding leave cannot begin until the neonatal care claim ends. Biological, adoptive, and foster parents all qualify, as does anyone acting in loco parentis.⁷

Safe Leave

FAMLI’s safe leave covers employees whose family members, or they themselves, have experienced domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault. There is no requirement for a police report or court finding. A good-faith legal attestation is enough.⁸ For most workers, safe leave has replaced Colorado’s older three-day unpaid victim protection leave as the stronger option.

Unpaid FMLA Leave

FMLA is the federal counterpart. It provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for a serious health condition, childbirth, adoption, or caregiving, and up to 26 weeks in a single year to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness.⁹

The eligibility bar is higher. You must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours during those 12 months, and work at a location where the employer has 50 or more employees within 75 miles.¹⁰

When both laws apply to the same absence, FMLA and FAMLI leave typically run at the same time. FAMLI provides the paycheck; FMLA carries its own job-protection and health-insurance guarantees. Both allow intermittent leave in smaller blocks rather than one continuous stretch, and both require advance notice, generally at least 30 days, when the need is foreseeable such as a planned surgery or expected due date. When 30 days isn’t possible, notify your employer as soon as practicable.¹¹

Additional Leave as an ADA Accommodation

If you exhaust FMLA or FAMLI and still need time off, the ADA can require your employer to provide additional unpaid leave as a reasonable accommodation. The EEOC has said clearly that hitting the FMLA cap does not end an employer’s ADA obligations.¹²

The question is whether the additional leave would cause an undue hardship, weighing the length and frequency of absences, their predictability, and the effect on operations. Indefinite leave, where you cannot say whether or when you’ll return, qualifies as undue hardship and does not have to be granted. A finite extension with an estimated return date is treated differently.

Employers also cannot require you to be “100% healed” before returning. If you can perform your essential duties with or without a reasonable accommodation, a blanket no-restrictions policy violates the ADA.

Military Leave

USERRA protects employees who leave civilian jobs for voluntary or involuntary service in the Armed Forces, National Guard, or Reserves. It applies to every employer regardless of size, has no cap on total length of service, and requires prompt reemployment in the position you would have held had you never left, with the same seniority, pay, and benefits.¹³ You’re expected to give advance notice before departing unless military necessity makes that impossible.

Colorado adds a paid benefit for public employees. State and local government workers called to active duty receive up to three weeks of paid military leave per leave year on their regular schedule, without losing seniority, vacation time, or other benefits.¹⁴ Private-sector workers don’t get paid leave under state law but keep all USERRA reemployment rights.

You can elect to continue employer-sponsored health insurance for up to 24 months while on military leave. If your service lasts 30 days or fewer, you pay only your normal employee share. For longer absences, the employer can charge up to 102% of the full premium.¹⁵

Victim Protection Leave

Colorado’s victim protection leave statute (C.R.S. § 24-34-402.7) requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide up to three working days of unpaid leave per year to workers who are victims of domestic violence, stalking, or certain other crimes. You must have been employed for at least 12 months to qualify.¹⁶

You can use this leave for medical care, counseling, legal assistance, protective orders, relocation, or court proceedings. Employers can request reasonable documentation such as a police report, court order, or statement from a medical provider or victim advocate, and must keep that information confidential.

For most workers, FAMLI safe leave now offers a stronger version of the same protection: up to 12 weeks, paid, no employer-size threshold, and no need for a police report.

Voting Leave

Colorado gives every eligible voter up to two hours of paid leave to vote, register to vote, or obtain identification needed for voting. Your employer chooses when in your shift the time falls, but must place it at the beginning or end if you request. Ask before the day you plan to use it.¹⁷

Your employer can refuse the leave only if your schedule already gives you three or more consecutive non-working hours while polls are open. Firing or penalizing an employee for taking voting leave is prohibited.

Jury Duty Leave

Colorado employers must pay regular wages for the first three days of jury service, capped at $50 per day unless the employer agrees to more. Regularly employed part-time and temporary workers are covered if their hours can be determined from a schedule or pattern established in the three months before their jury term.¹⁸

Employers cannot fire, threaten, or harass an employee because of a jury summons or service, and cannot make demands that substantially interfere with jury duty. Willful violations can lead to treble damages and attorney’s fees, and willful harassment of a juror by an employer is a class 2 misdemeanor.¹⁹

Health Insurance While You’re Out

While you’re on FMLA leave, your employer must maintain your group health coverage on the same terms as if you were still working. Family coverage stays in place. If the plan changes or adds benefits during your leave, you get the same options active employees do.²⁰

If you drop coverage during FMLA leave, you must be reinstated on the same terms when you return, with no new waiting period or preexisting-condition exclusion. The employer’s obligation to maintain coverage ends if the position would have been eliminated anyway, if you tell the employer you won’t be returning, or if you exhaust your FMLA entitlement without returning. USERRA extends up to 24 months of continuation coverage during military leave. FAMLI has its own job-protection rules, with any overlapping FMLA period governed by federal law.

Bereavement Leave

Neither federal law nor Colorado state law currently requires private employers to provide bereavement leave. State government employees receive up to 40 hours per occurrence as a matter of internal policy, but that doesn’t extend to the private sector. Many employers offer bereavement leave voluntarily. If yours doesn’t, you may be able to use accrued HFWA sick leave for related mental or physical health needs.

What Documentation Employers Can Ask For

Proof rules vary by leave type, and employers who demand too much can face penalties.

For HFWA sick leave, documentation can only be requested when you miss four or more consecutive workdays, and a provider’s note or public health guidance suffices.¹

FMLA leave for a serious health condition requires a medical certification from your provider. Incomplete forms can result in delay or denial, so getting the certification right the first time matters.²¹

FAMLI claims run through the My FAMLI+ portal and require a Serious Health Condition Form for medical leave. Safe leave needs only a good-faith legal attestation.⁵

Victim protection leave may require a police report, court order, or statement from a provider or advocate. All medical documentation submitted for any leave type must be kept confidential and stored separately from your general personnel file.²²

Retaliation, Complaints, and Deadlines

Every leave law here prohibits retaliation. Firing, demoting, cutting hours, or otherwise punishing an employee for requesting or using protected leave is illegal under HFWA, FAMLI, FMLA, USERRA, the ADA, and the victim protection statute.

Under HFWA, denying paid sick leave is itself treated as retaliation, triggering penalties of at least $1,000 (or $3,000 for willful violations) plus back pay. If an employer doesn’t pay what it owes within 60 days of a CDLE order, penalties increase by 50% or $3,000, whichever is greater.³ FAMLI violations can lead to reinstatement, back pay, and additional damages. FMLA and USERRA provide similar remedies.

Where you file depends on the law. HFWA and FAMLI complaints go to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.²³ FMLA and USERRA claims can be filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. Victim protection leave claims can go to the Colorado Civil Rights Division or into a private lawsuit.

Watch the clock. FMLA lawsuits must be filed within two years of the last violation, or three years if the employer’s conduct was willful.²⁴ HFWA and FAMLI claims have their own filing windows through the CDLE administrative process. Keep a written record of every leave request, the employer’s response, and any adverse action, dated as it happens. Waiting too long can forfeit a valid claim.

1
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. INFO #6B Employer/Employee Rights and Obligations Under the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act
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Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act
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Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. INFO #2B Orders of Wages, Penalties, Fines, and Consequences for Non-Compliance
4
Family and Medical Leave Insurance. FAMLI and FMLA
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Individuals and Families FAQs
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Rules and Guidance
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Neonatal Care Leave
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Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Safe Leave (Domestic Violence)
9
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #28: The Family and Medical Leave Act
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U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Frequently Asked Questions
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eCFR. 29 CFR 825.302 – Employee Notice Requirements for Foreseeable FMLA Leave
12
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employer-Provided Leave and the Americans with Disabilities Act
13
U.S. Department of Labor. USERRA – About USERRA
14
Justia. Colorado Code 28-3-601 – Public Employees – Annual Military Leave
15
eCFR. 20 CFR Part 1002 Subpart D – Health Plan Coverage
16
Justia. Colorado Code 24-34-402.7 – Unlawful Action Against Employees Seeking Protection
17
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes 31-10-603
18
Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes 13-71-126 – Compensation of Employed Jurors During First Three Days of Service
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Colorado Judicial Branch. Information for Employers
20
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.209 – Maintenance of Employee Benefits
21
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.306 – Content of Medical Certification
22
HHS.gov. Employers and Health Information in the Workplace
23
Legal Information Institute. 4 CCR 801-1, Chapter 5 – Time Off
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U.S. Department of Labor. FMLA Advisor – Enforcement of the FMLA