Last updated: October 2026

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in Colorado: How It Stacks With Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI)

FMLA Colorado is unpaid; FAMLI pays a wage benefit.

Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance program (FAMLI) began paying benefits in 2024, and the 2026 premium is 0.88% of wages. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives eligible workers unpaid, job-protected leave. Stack them correctly and a worker keeps a paycheck and a role.

FMLA is a federal law run by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The FAMLI Division of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) runs FAMLI.

Why FMLA Colorado looks different now that FAMLI is paying claims

FAMLI was created by Proposition 118, a ballot measure Colorado voters approved.

Now most Colorado employers collect FAMLI premiums, but only some owe FMLA job protection on top of the premium remittance. A 25-person bakery in Denver collects FAMLI premiums and remits them to CDLE, while it has zero federal FMLA obligations.

The FAMLI Division Director sets the premium rate each year from a formula tied to fund balance and usage rates. The law caps it at 1.2% of wages.

Who counts under federal FMLA: the 50-employee, 1,250-hour test

FMLA covers private employers with 50 or more employees for each working day during 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or prior calendar year. Public agencies and elementary and secondary schools, public or private, are covered employers regardless of headcount. A worker has to clear three tests of their own. Twelve months of service, 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months before the leave, and at least 50 employees of the employer within 75 miles of the worksite.

Miss any one of those tests, and the employee is not FMLA-eligible.

FMLA gives twelve weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per twelve-month period.

The covered reasons are bounded but broad. A worker’s own serious health condition, a spouse, child or parent’s serious health condition, a new child by birth, adoption or foster placement, and qualifying military exigencies all fit. Military caregiver leave runs longer at 26 weeks within a single twelve-month period.

FAMLI eligibility, premiums, and the wage base

FAMLI is the paid program. Premiums are charged on wages up to the Social Security wage cap, $184,500 for earnings in 2026. An employer with 10 or more employees nationwide may deduct up to half of the premium from each worker’s pay. An employer with fewer than 10 employees nationwide is not required to pay the employer share.

Eligibility for FAMLI benefits requires $2,500 in Colorado wages over roughly the past year. Part-time and seasonal workers qualify on the same test. Federal employees and workers covered by the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act are not eligible.

Most Colorado workers are covered.

Premiums get reported quarterly through the My FAMLI+ Employer portal at CDLE.

Workers apply for FAMLI through My FAMLI+, not through their employer. Each employer the worker lists is notified when the claim is submitted.

Run the math on a 30-employee Colorado business paying an average wage of $60,000 in 2026, with no one above the wage cap. Premiums at 0.88% of $1.8 million come to $15,840 for the year. The company pays its 0.44% share, $7,920, and may deduct the other $7,920 from workers’ pay. That deduction is post-tax, and the FAMLI Division says it likely belongs in Box 14 of Form W-2.

How FAMLI and FMLA Run Together

FAMLI is designed to run concurrently with FMLA. When FAMLI leave is taken for a reason that also qualifies under FMLA, the leave also counts as FMLA leave. That means the same week of absence counts against the federal 12-week entitlement and the state 12-week benefit at the same time.

The DOL designation rule is the lever. Under 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 825.300(d), once the employer has enough information to know leave qualifies, it must designate the leave as FMLA leave within five business days. The designation notice must be in writing.

A late designation can be made retroactively with notice to the employee, provided that the employer’s failure to timely designate leave does not cause harm or injury to the employee. If the delay harms the employee, it may count as interference with FMLA rights, and the employer may be liable for lost compensation and benefits.

Certification, recertification, and the 15-day clock

FMLA certification gives a Colorado business a way to verify that the leave qualifies. The employer may require a complete and sufficient medical certification from the worker’s health care provider within 15 calendar days of the request. Form WH-380-E covers an employee’s own condition. Form WH-380-F covers a family member’s condition.

Miss the 15-day deadline and the employer can deny FMLA coverage until the certification arrives. The exception is when returning it on time is not practicable despite the employee’s diligent, good faith efforts. Under 29 CFR 825.307, the employer may also require second and third opinions.

As a general rule, an employer may request recertification no more often than every 30 days, and only in connection with an absence.

The certification rules apply only to FMLA. FAMLI uses its own Serious Health Condition Form, completed by the worker’s health care provider and filed through My FAMLI+. The employer sees the claim status, leave dates and leave balance, and can request the leave reason.

Reinstatement and what Colorado employers cannot demand

FMLA requires reinstatement to the same or an equivalent position at the end of leave. Equivalent means virtually identical in pay, benefits and working conditions. The employee must be reinstated to the same or a geographically proximate worksite. The worker ordinarily returns to the same shift.

One carve-out exists. Key employees, salaried workers among the highest-paid 10% within 75 miles, can be denied reinstatement if their return would cause substantial and grievous economic injury to operations. Notice has to go out in writing when the employee gives notice of the need for leave.

FAMLI carries its own anti-retaliation rule running in parallel.

Under FAMLI, a worker employed for at least 180 days before the leave has the right to return to the old job or an equivalent one. Workers with less tenure still receive the paid benefit, without that restoration right.

A Colorado employer cannot require a worker to use accrued vacation, sick leave or other paid time off before or while receiving FAMLI. Under FMLA on its own, an employer can require paid time off to run with the leave. The two sides can agree that paid time off tops up the FAMLI benefit, but total pay cannot exceed the worker’s average weekly wage.

The trap to watch lives at small companies. A private Colorado business with fewer than 50 employees that fires someone on FAMLI leave has no FMLA exposure. The worker can still file a complaint with the FAMLI Division’s Job Protection and Retaliation Investigations Unit. If the Division finds the employer acted unlawfully, the employer may owe monetary damages and may have to give the job back.

What changes for Colorado employers under 50 employees

An employee at a 12-person company in Boulder collects FAMLI but has no FMLA job protection. FAMLI still protects that job once the worker has 180 days of employment. While FAMLI pays the benefit, the employer does not pay regular wages, and the FAMLI Division suggests using that saving for temporary help.

FAMLI counts employees nationwide, not just in Colorado. A business with 15 employees nationwide and eight in Colorado pays the 0.44% employer share for those eight in 2026.

The 180 days are calendar days of employment with that employer, not days worked. Leave, vacation and sick time still count toward them. A worker who changes Colorado jobs starts a new 180-day count but can draw the benefit from day one if the $2,500 wage test is met.

Your next moves before the next leave request hits payroll

Map your headcount against the 50-employee FMLA threshold first. Then update the FAMLI headcount by February 28; if it is missing, the Division assumes 10 or more employees and charges the full premium.

Update your FMLA designation policy to fire automatically when a worker files a FAMLI claim for a qualifying reason. Build the workflow so it runs concurrently by default.

Audit your last twelve months of leave designations against your FAMLI claim records. The reconciliation surfaces gaps where FMLA designation got skipped while FAMLI paid out.

For the federal text itself, file the DOL Wage and Hour Division FMLA portal in your bookmarks and check it before any policy update. Review our breakdown of Paid Leave Oregon, the state reciprocity rules, and the state tax withholding mechanics for every jurisdiction where your workers live or work. The catch with relying on a single state playbook is that concurrent leave stacks differently in each program, but our multi-state payroll hub maps the differences.

This is not legal or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional for your specific situation.