Since it took effect in January 2024, Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) Program has provided covered employees with up to 12 weeks of job-protected, partially paid time off for the care of a newborn, adopted child, or fostered child. Before the passage of FAMLI, many employers already provided a similar benefit to their employees.
Not updating those pre-established parental leave policies could result in some unintended consequences. Employers that have not updated their parental leave policies are at risk of employees applying for and using their state-provided FAMLI benefit and, after it is exhausted, requesting and taking advantage of their employer-provided benefit, resulting in a “stacking” of the two leaves.
While FAMLI was designed to provide employees with a level of security for major life events requiring extended time away from work, the stacking of benefits poses some challenges for employers:
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Employers often face difficulty reassigning tasks while employees are on leave because of skills and institutional knowledge gaps.
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Important projects might have to be put on hold pending an employee’s return.
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In most cases, hiring temporary employees is not practical, given the additional time and cost of recruitment and training.
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Employers may experience decreased team performance and productivity.
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Employers may experience increased costs due to paying overtime to cover the duties of employees on leave.
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Employees required to do more work due to others on leave can experience morale issues.
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Employees out for extended absences miss important updates and trainings, requiring employers to use additional money and resources to get employees up to speed upon their return to work.
To help mitigate some of the impacts to organizations from employees on extended leave, employers should update their parental leave policies.
In some cases, because of FAMLI’s broad coverage, employers may want to eliminate their policies altogether. In other cases, if an employee takes FAMLI leave to care for a new child, an employer can require that the approved FAMLI leave run concurrently with its parental leave policy. But, to do this, FAMLI requires employers to give their employees advance written notice of the decision to require their parental leave to run concurrently with FAMLI. This simply means it’s time for employers to update their parental leave policies.
Consulting and Enterprise members that need help updating their parental leave policies should contact an Employers Council attorney. All members can learn more about the requirements of FAMLI in our whitepaper.
Dusty Brown is an attorney for Employers Council.