Editor’s note: This is the final article in our series intended to help employers prepare for the January 2024 start of employee benefits under Colorado’s FAMLI program.
One of the most frequently asked questions regarding the Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) Program is whether employees will be entitled to additional benefits they were not already entitled to under other leave entitlements. The answer is yes, and we will address a number of those situations in this article.
An employee may be entitled to extra benefits involving interactions between FAMLI and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). A good general rule for FAMLI is that it is meant to run concurrently with FMLA benefits. However, there are situations where that may not be the case, and an employee may be eligible for extra benefits in certain situations.
Under FMLA, an employee is eligible to take up to 12 weeks of leave for serious health conditions during the duration of a pregnancy and up to one year after the birth or the adoption of a child. Under FAMLI, if there are pregnancy or childbirth complications, an employee can obtain up to 16 weeks of leave. In other words, an extra four weeks of leave to address those complications.
Also, when an employee has taken leave in 2023 under FMLA or employer-sponsored leave for the birth/adoption/fostering of a child, they will likely be eligible for extra benefits in 2024 under FAMLI. Under those circumstances, they will be eligible for an additional 12 weeks of FAMLI leave in 2024, even though they have taken FMLA leave for care in 2023.
New parents are eligible to take FAMLI leave to bond with a new child at any time within the first 12 months after a birth, adoption, or foster care placement. Those parents may have some weeks of eligibility in 2024 (when benefits become available) for a child who arrives in 2023, even if they use some employer-sponsored leave or unpaid FMLA leave in 2023 when the child first arrives.
Additionally, under FMLA, an employee is not eligible to receive benefits until they have been employed for 12 months, with 1,250 hours of actual hours worked. However, generally, an employee is eligible to take FAMLI benefits once they have earned at least $2,500 in wages. This allows new employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave almost immediately. Note that employees must have worked for their current employer for at least 180 days (roughly six months) before they will be eligible for job protection.
There is some possibility that a new employee can take up to 12 weeks of leave before they are even eligible to take FMLA leave, depending on how many hours a week they work, as they may reach 1,250 hours of work and still be able to take 12 weeks of leave before they have worked 12 months at their employer.
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