Colorado’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program, known as FAMLI, gives most Colorado workers up to 12 weeks of paid, job-protected leave each year, with up to four extra weeks for pregnancy or childbirth complications. The maximum weekly benefit for the 2025–2026 period is $1,381.45.1Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Rules and Guidance The program is funded through a payroll premium shared by employers and employees, and it covers nearly every private-sector job in the state automatically.
Who Qualifies for Benefits
Nearly all private-sector employers in Colorado are covered, so most workers are in the program by default.2FindLaw. Colorado Code 8-13.3-503 – Definitions To be eligible for benefit payments, you need to have earned at least $2,500 in wages subject to FAMLI premiums during your base period, which is generally the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters.3Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Employer FAQs Wages from more than one Colorado job count toward that total.
Self-employed workers and independent contractors are not enrolled automatically, but they can opt in through the FAMLI Division. Once you opt in, you commit to paying premiums for at least three years.4Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Opting in to FAMLI – What Self-Employed Individuals and Employees of Colorado’s Local Governments Need to Know
Local governments are the one type of employer that can opt out entirely, and only by a formal vote of the governing body.5Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Local Governments If your city or county has opted out, you can still opt in as an individual, though your employer will not pay its share of the premium.
Reasons You Can Take FAMLI Leave
Colorado law recognizes five qualifying reasons for paid leave:6FindLaw. Colorado Code 8-13.3-504 – Eligibility
- Your own serious health condition, such as surgery recovery, a chronic illness flare-up, or a mental health crisis that keeps you from working.
- Caring for a family member with a serious health condition, such as a parent recovering from surgery, a spouse in cancer treatment, or a seriously ill child.
- Bonding with a new child during the first year after birth, adoption, or foster placement.
- Safe leave: time for survivors of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault to get medical care, counseling, legal help, or to relocate.
- Military exigency arising from a family member’s active-duty deployment.
The definition of “family member” is broad. It covers children (biological, adopted, or foster), parents, spouses, domestic partners, grandparents, and siblings, and it also reaches anyone with whom you share a significant personal bond equivalent to a family relationship, even without blood or legal ties.
How Much FAMLI Pays
Your weekly benefit is calculated against the statewide average weekly wage, which is $1,534.94 for 2025–2026. The first $767.47 of your own average weekly wage (50% of the state average) is replaced at 90%. Anything you earn above that is replaced at 50%.7Colorado Division of Insurance. Colorado Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act The overall cap is $1,381.45 per week.
A worker earning $800 per week gets roughly $707: 90% of the first $767.47, plus 50% of the remaining $32.53. Higher earners hit the $1,381.45 ceiling. The FAMLI Division publishes an online calculator you can use to estimate your own amount.8Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Premium and Benefits Calculator
If you work more than one job and take leave from only one, the Division uses just the wages from the job you are taking leave from to calculate your benefit. You can choose to take leave from one job or from several.
What Comes Out of Your Paycheck
FAMLI is funded by a payroll premium set each year by the Division director. For 2026, the total premium is 0.88% of wages, split evenly at 0.44% each for employer and employee. The statute caps the premium at 1.2% of wages no matter how future rates are adjusted.7Colorado Division of Insurance. Colorado Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act
Premiums stop applying at the federal Social Security wage cap, which is $184,500 for 2026. Earnings above that amount are not subject to FAMLI premiums.8Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Premium and Benefits Calculator
Employers with fewer than 10 employees do not have to pay the employer share. They still withhold and remit the employee’s 50%, but the other half is waived. Some small employers pay the employer share anyway as a benefit.
Filing a Claim
All FAMLI claims run through the My FAMLI+ online portal.9Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). My FAMLI+ You create an account, verify your identity, then work through five steps: personal details, employment information, leave details, payment setup, and a final review.
For every claim, expect to provide your Social Security Number or ITIN, your employer’s contact information, and the dates of your leave.10Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). My FAMLI+ User Guide – Filing a Claim What else you need depends on why you are taking leave.
Medical leave, for you or a family member, requires a U.S.-licensed health care provider to complete and sign a Serious Health Condition Form. If your provider is registered in My FAMLI+, they can certify it online; otherwise you download the form from within your claim for them to fill out.11Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Medical Leave to Care for Yourself
Bonding leave requires documentation of the qualifying event: a birth certificate, adoption papers, or foster placement records. Military exigency leave calls for copies of the family member’s active-duty orders or other official military communications.
Safe leave works differently. You do not have to produce police reports, court records, or any other outside proof. The program requires only your good-faith legal attestation that you are a survivor of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault.12Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Safe Leave (Domestic Violence)
If your leave is foreseeable, give your employer at least 30 days’ notice. If it is not, tell them as soon as you reasonably can.
Continuous, Intermittent, or Reduced Schedule
Leave does not have to be taken all at once. You can take it continuously (one unbroken stretch), on a reduced work schedule (fewer hours for a set period), or intermittently (unpredictable absences as needed).13Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). 5 Tips for Using Intermittent Leave
Intermittent leave fits conditions that flare without warning, like severe migraines or treatment side effects. If your doctor wants you on a predictable schedule of reduced hours, that should be filed as reduced schedule leave, not intermittent. The reporting is different: intermittent leave requires you to log your missed hours weekly.
One quirk of intermittent leave: no payment goes out until you have logged at least eight hours of missed work. If your first few absences are short, expect a delay before the first check.
When the Money Actually Shows Up
There is no waiting period before your leave can begin.14Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Individuals and Families FAQs Payment is a different matter. For continuous leave, your first payment does not go out until you have missed a full week of work; it is then authorized the following day and typically arrives within 48 hours by direct deposit or a state-issued debit card.15Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). What to Expect From Your First FAMLI Payment
After that, continuous leave payments go out automatically each week on the same day. For intermittent or reduced schedule leave, a weekly certification task appears each Sunday. Finish it Sunday evening and payment can arrive by Tuesday; otherwise, expect roughly 48 hours after you submit.
If you filed your claim before your leave actually started, log back into My FAMLI+ once it begins to confirm the start date. The Division cannot release payments until you do.
Job Protection
FAMLI includes its own job protection, separate from the federal FMLA. Your employer must restore you to the same job or an equivalent one when you return, may not retaliate against you for using the benefit, and must maintain your health benefits during your leave on the same terms as if you were still working.16FindLaw. Colorado Code 8-13.3-509 – Leave and Employment Protection
Job protection applies once you have been with your employer for 180 days before your leave starts. Workers with less tenure can still receive FAMLI payments; they just do not have a statutory right to their specific job back. If you are newer to a role, that gap is worth knowing before you file.
How FAMLI and FMLA Fit Together
If your leave qualifies under both FAMLI and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the two run concurrently. They do not add up to 24 weeks. FMLA gives up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave at employers with 50 or more employees. FAMLI reaches more workers because it has no employer-size threshold for benefits, though its job protection carries the 180-day tenure requirement.
When an employee requests FMLA leave, the employer has to tell them they may also be eligible for paid FAMLI benefits and explain how to apply.
If Your Claim Is Denied
You have 30 days from a denial to file an appeal, extendable to 60 days if you show good cause. Once your appeal is timely filed, the Division assigns a hearing officer, and both you and your employer can take part in the hearing. If you lose the appeal, further review is available through the courts.
Denials most often come from incomplete medical certification, insufficient wage history, or a reason for leave that does not fit one of the five qualifying categories. Before filing an appeal, check whether the problem is a missing document. A corrected Serious Health Condition Form can sometimes resolve things faster than a formal challenge.
If Your Employer Uses a Private Plan
Employers may run an approved private plan instead of the state plan, as long as it matches or exceeds FAMLI on leave duration, wage replacement, conditions, and premium deductions.17Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI). Private Plans If you are covered by one, your benefits and rights should be at least as good as the state program, and the job-protection statute still applies to you regardless of which plan your employer uses.