Colorado’s new paid family and medical leave insurance gives workers pay replacement when they need to step away from work – even if they have multiple employers.
Workers with more than one employer simply need to enter their multiple employers and the hours they work for each when they apply for benefits in the My FAMLI+ portal. Their wages earned will be aggregated to arrive at a benefit amount.
Here are some things to know about taking FAMLI leave when you have multiple jobs:
- Workers don’t get extra eligibility because they have multiple jobs. FAMLI coverage tops out at 12 weeks a year, or up to 16 weeks in cases of certain pregnancy or childbirth complications.
- Workers with multiple jobs will need to prove they earned a total of $2,500 in eligible wages from those jobs in order to be eligible for FAMLI benefits.
- Workers can claim FAMLI benefits from a self-employed job as well as from a different employer. In those cases, workers will need to upload wage data showing the history of earned wages from that self-employed job, so those wages can be calculated into the FAMLI benefits.
- Workers with multiple employers can take leave from just one of them if they wish. However, they'll need to report all their active employers (including any employers they won't be taking leave from) so that their wage determination calculations are correct.
- Check with your employers to see if they are using private insurance instead of the Colorado FAMLI Division for paid-leave coverage. The answer doesn’t affect eligibility, but when employers use private insurance, their workers must apply through that insurance company and not the State.
- Don’t forget that each of your employers may offer extra benefits in addition to FAMLI so that your paychecks stay the same when you are out. It’s always a good idea to ask if your employers offer short-term disability coverage or other benefits that may be used in addition to FAMLI. Find out more about how your employer benefits work with FAMLI benefits here.
- Benefits are capped at $1,100 a week, no matter how many jobs you have.
- Workers who have multiple employers but want to take FAMLI leave from only one – perhaps because of mandatory medical appointments that conflict with one work schedule but not another - also have the option to do so.
- In those cases, workers will need to identify which employers they will be taking leave from when they apply for benefits in My FAMLI+. You can take leave from all of your employers, or just one. Your benefits payment will not be based on the wages earned from any current job you're not taking leave from.
- Workers also need to determine how they want their leave allocated. You can decide if you need Continuous Leave (all hours, every day), a Reduced Schedule (working fewer hours from that employer than you normally would), or an Intermittent Leave (leave taken in separate blocks of time happening at irregular intervals within a six-month period). Learn more about these different leave types here.
FAMLI experts are standing by to help all Colorado workers figure out how to file a claim and make sure all their wages are counted. Drop us a line at CDLE_FAMLI_info@state.co.us or give us a call at 1-866-CO-FAMLI any weekday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. MT and we’ll guide you through filing a claim for your unique situation.