FMLA - Colorado

Paid family leave (Prop 118, FAMLI)

In 2024, employees will be entitled to take leave under the CO paid family and medical leave (PFML) provisions (Prop 118 from 11/2020 ballot). This is also known as FAMLI for the Family and Medical Leave Insurance. The paid leave is funded by contributions from both employers and employees. Premiums begin being collected January 1, 2023, and employees may begin taking leave January 1, 2024.

Healthy Families and Workplaces (paid sick leave)

Adoption leave

Family Care Act

This law takes the federal FMLA (employer coverage and employee eligibility provisions included) and tries to expand upon it by entitling eligible employees to take FMLA leave to care for a domestic partner or a partner in a civil union. These reasons do not otherwise qualify for leave under the federal FMLA.

The federal FMLA applies to private employers with 50 or more employees and all public employers. There is also a worksite provision under the federal law.

The state provisions indicate that leave taken under the state law run concurrent with leave taken under the federal FMLA. However, the federal FMLA does not allow for leave taken to care for the same family members as does the state law. Therefore, leave taken under the state provisions is in addition to leave taken under the federal FMLA.

Unemployment after FMLA leave

Employees who exhaust FMLA leave are also eligible for unemployment benefits if they are separated from a job because the employee's family member is suffering from a disability that requires the employee to care for the family member for a period that exceeds FMLA leave or the employer's leave provisions.

Domestic violence/crime leave

Employers with 50 or more employees must allow an employee who has worked for the employer for 12 months or more to request or take up to three working days of leave from work in any 12-month period, with or without pay, if the employee is a victim of domestic abuse, stalking, sexual assault, or any other crime including an act of domestic violence. The employee must be using leave to protect himself or herself by:

• Seeking a civil protection order to prevent domestic abuse;
• Obtaining medical care or mental health counseling or both for himself or herself or for his or her children to address physical or psychological injuries resulting from the act of domestic abuse, stalking, sexual assault, or other crime involving domestic violence;
• Making his or her home secure from the perpetrator of the act of domestic abuse, stalking, sexual assault, or other crime involving domestic violence or seeking new housing to escape the perpetrator;
• Seeking legal assistance to address issues arising from the act of domestic abuse, stalking, sexual assault, or other crime involving domestic violence, and attending and preparing for court-related proceedings arising from the act or crime.

Employees seeking leave must provide appropriate advance notice and documentation as may be required by the employer or the employer's policy.

Before receiving leave, employees must exhaust any and all annual or vacation leave, personal leave, and sick leave, if applicable, that may be available, unless the employer waives this requirement.

In addition, an employer may not discharge or discipline an employee who is a victim or who is a member of a victim's immediate family for honoring a subpoena to testify in a criminal proceeding or for participating in the preparation of a criminal proceeding. (CO Rev. Stat. Sec. 24-4.1-303(8))

Volunteer firefighter leave

Employees who respond to emergency situations instead of reporting to work are entitled to up to 15 days of job-protected, unpaid leave per calendar year.

There are some considerations, however.

• The employee cannot be essential to the operation of the employer’s daily enterprise.
• The employer has received written documentation from the fire chief notifying the employer of the employee’s status as a volunteer firefighter.
• The emergency is within the response area and is of such magnitude that the employee must respond.
• The employee provides a written statement from the fire chief that the absence was due to the response, verifying the time, date, and duration of the response.
• No more than 20 percent of the company workforce is taking such leave on a given workday.

Pregnancy accommodations

All employers must provide reasonable accommodations for health conditions related to pregnancy or the physical recovery from childbirth to an applicant or employee so she can perform the essential functions of a job. The individual is generally expected to request an accommodation, if needed.

You need not provide an accommodation that would pose an undue hardship. You must, however, provide written notice of the rights under the law to new employees when they are hired, and post a notice in a conspicuous place at the worksite.

You may require an applicant or employee to provide a doctor’s note stating the necessity of a reasonable accommodation.

If an accommodation is requested, you and the employee must engage in an interactive process to determine an effective reasonable accommodation. You are not required to provide paid leave beyond that which is provided to similarly situated employees.