Colorado’s first-of-its-kind Family and Medical Leave Insurance program sends $2.7 million in benefits to eligible Colorado workers.
(DENVER) – Payments are headed to Colorado workers who were among the first to take advantage of the State’s voter-approved Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program.
The FAMLI Division, part of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, announced today that it has distributed the first payments to some 3,200 Colorado workers who filed claims under the law setting up a first-of-its-kind insurance product for partial pay replacement when serious life events force employees to temporarily step away from the job.
As of Jan. 10, $2,746,250 has been sent to 3,208 approved FAMLI claims.
Claimants using FAMLI leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule basis must certify their hours away from work every Sunday before they can get paid. Claimants taking continuous FAMLI leave do not need to certify every week and will receive their first payment once they have missed one full week of work. Their "payment day" will depend on the day of the week their leave started. Claimants can learn more about what to expect after their claim is approved here.
Colorado is the first state to set up a paid-leave program through a public vote, instead of through the legislative branch. FAMLI opened Colorado’s application portal, My FAMLI+, in late November to allow workers who need leave right at the beginning of 2024 to get their claims filed in advance. Workers with approved claims can choose to get their payments directly to a bank account or on a reloading debit card.
FAMLI benefits are calculated on a sliding scale using the individual's average weekly wage from the previous five calendar quarters in relation to the average weekly wage for the state of Colorado. Workers can check their potential benefit payments on our online Premium and Benefits calculator.
As a reminder, the final step a claimant needs to take before FAMLI can send their first benefit payment is to notify the Division that their leave has officially begun. This will show up as a task in their My FAMLI+ claimant dashboard two days before their reported leave start date. Anyone working for an employer that is using a private insurance plan should talk to their employers about applying for benefits with that plan instead of filing a claim through the State’s My FAMLI+ portal.
To help everyone navigate the portal and get their questions answered about applying for FAMLI benefits, the FAMLI Division is hosting statewide virtual town halls in English and Spanish.
Zoom registration, recordings of past sessions and YouTube streaming details are available here.
For more details, check out famli.colorado.gov to find how-to videos, user guides, webinar recordings and FAQs to help navigate the program.
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