Colorado Paid FAMLI Leave Protections Start January 1
Colorado’s paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (FAMLI) launched this year with employers withholding and remitting premiums. Now, employers need to prepare for the next phase of the program. FAMLI will start providing benefits to employees beginning January 1, 2024. FAMLI applies to most employers and employees in Colorado.
As a reminder, FAMLI is funded by payroll contributions and is administered by the FAMLI Division (part of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment). Employers do not pay the monetary benefits directly to employees. We are keeping you abreast of this information because these benefits come with job protection. This means that even if your organization is too small to be subject to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the Colorado Family Care Act, you’ll still need to provide job-protected leave when an employee qualifies for FAMLI benefits. To be entitled to job protection, the employee must have worked for their employer for at least 180 days before taking leave. Employers must also maintain an employee’s health care benefits during FAMLI leave, regardless of tenure.
Employees may be eligible to take up to 16 weeks of FAMLI leave per year for family, medical, qualifying exigency, and safe leave. If the employee’s FAMLI leave also qualifies for the Colorado Family Care Act or the federal FMLA, then the leaves will run concurrently.
Employers are required to provide the updated 2024 FAMLI notice by posting the notice in a prominent location at each worksite, to each employee upon hire, and to an employee when they learn that the employee might need leave for a covered reason.
Expanded EPEWA Requirements for Employers
Effective January 1, 2024, under the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (EPEWA), employers must make reasonable efforts to notify all employees of each job opportunity, which is a job vacancy that the employer is accepting applications for and externally posting. This notification should happen on the same day for all employees, prior to the employer’s selection decision, and must include the rate or range of pay, a general description of other benefits or compensation, and the date the application window is expected to close. For employers with no physical location in Colorado and 14 or fewer remote employees in the state, only remote job opportunities must be shared.
Within 30 days of selecting a candidate, employers must provide their name, job title (former title if already an employee and new title otherwise), and how other employees can apply for a similar job opportunities in the future. For positions with career progression, employers must disclose the progression, pay, benefits, whether it’s a full- or part-time position, job duties, and access to further advancement. However, employers can’t identify a candidate in a way that violates their legal and privacy rights or puts them at risk.
Magic Mushrooms Go Mainstream
Colorado has legalized the possession and use of psilocybin in certain quantities and settings as of January 1, 2024. Employers do not have to allow or accommodate its use or possession in the workplace. As with the legalization of cannabis, you may want to consider how you respond to certain drug test results and whether your response is potentially harmful to those with disabilities or may limit your candidate or employee pool.
