Colorado’s FAMLI’s program is entering its second year of benefits - and that means that Colorado workers who used FAMLI benefits last year will start seeing their benefit years reset.
What does that mean, and how does it affect you if you’re in the middle of a claim or need to take another FAMLI-covered leave?
Let’s break it down with these points to remember:
- Colorado law allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year, or 16 weeks in cases of certain childbirth complications. That year begins when a FAMLI claim first begins, not necessarily when the calendar changes. So if a worker's first FAMLI-covered leave began on May 4, 2024, their available leave balance would not reset until May 4, 2025.
- Colorado workers can’t “bank” FAMLI leave over the years. In other words, the 12 or 16-week limit can’t be extended if a Colorado worker didn’t file a claim in the previous year. Think of it like car insurance. If you pay premiums for an entire year to insure a car, then wreck the car in your second year of carrying that coverage, you wouldn’t get paid for two cars because you didn’t wreck the car in the first year.
- A benefit year doesn’t need to line up with an event that makes a worker eligible for FAMLI. Let’s say a worker needs to step away from the job four weeks before their benefit year resets, and their leave duration is approved for eight weeks. In that case, the worker is covered for the full amount approved by the FAMLI Division. Their bank of FAMLI-covered working hours will reset after four weeks and the final four weeks of their FAMLI-covered leave would be taken out of the next year’s leave balance of 12 weeks. The good news here is that this will happen automatically, and the claimant wouldn’t need to re-file the claim when their benefit year resets.
- Bonding claims aren’t interrupted by the resetting of a FAMLI benefit year. Claimants should remember that bonding leave is designated for children within the first 12 months of birth or placement, so a bonding claim becomes invalid after those 12 months are up, regardless of how much time the parent has left in their balance of eligible FAMLI leave. Bonding leave claims are also limited to 12 weeks per birth or placement. So if you use 6 weeks on a bonding leave claim at the end of your benefit year, you can’t use 12 more weeks (for 18 total weeks) for the same birth or placement when your benefit year resets. You can use 6 more weeks for the same bonding claim in the new year, and then you will have 6 remaining weeks in your leave balance for the rest of the new benefit year that would be available for any potential separate FAMLI claim.
- You can check the details of your FAMLI benefit year and see your Leave Balance Expiration Date on your dashboard in My FAMLI+. It’ll look like something this:
- The amount of weeks you have in your leave balance is the amount of leave you have left to use based on your claims within the current benefit year. Your Leave Balance Expiration Date is when your current Leave Balance expires. Your leave balance will reset the following day, and a new benefit year will begin whenever you begin a new FAMLI leave.
We know that every FAMLI claim is different and that life events don’t happen on a convenient calendar schedule. So if you have any questions about a benefit year or when it resets, FAMLI experts are standing by to help. Drop us a line at CDLE_FAMLI_info@state.co.us or give us a call at 1-866-CO-FAMLI any weekday between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. MT.