Colorado — Leave Laws

Colorado requires all employers to provide paid sick leave to employees under the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA). Employees accrue at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours per year. The requirement applies to all employers regardless of size as of January 1, 2022, and covers all employees except those subject to the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act.

Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-13.3-401 et seq.

Colorado's Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave per year to eligible workers for qualifying reasons including bonding with a new child, caring for a family member with a serious health condition, recovering from one's own serious health condition, addressing certain military exigencies, or safe leave (domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking). The program was enacted as Part 5 of Article 13.3 of Title 8 (C.R.S. § 8-13.3-501 et seq.) by voter initiative Proposition 118 in November 2020, effective December 31, 2020.

Eligibility. Employees who earned at least $2,500 in covered wages during their base period (or alternative base period, as defined in § 8-70-103) are eligible under § 8-13.3-503. Self-employed individuals and independent contractors may elect coverage under § 8-13.3-514.

Benefits began January 1, 2024. The FAMLI Division began collecting premiums January 1, 2023, and started paying benefits January 1, 2024, under § 8-13.3-516. Benefits are funded by payroll premiums split between employers and employees under § 8-13.3-507, initially set at 0.9% of wages (January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2024).

Duration and benefit amount. Eligible workers may receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave per application year under § 8-13.3-505(1), with a wage-replacement rate that varies by income level under § 8-13.3-506. For qualifying exigency leave related to a family member's military service, the maximum duration is capped separately under § 8-13.3-505(2).

Job protection. Employees are entitled to return to the same or an equivalent position following FAMLI leave, with continuation of health benefits during the leave period, under § 8-13.3-509. Employers are prohibited from retaliatory personnel actions under the same section.

Private plans and local-government opt-out. Employers may substitute an approved private plan that meets or exceeds the statutory requirements under § 8-13.3-521. Local government employers may decline participation under § 8-13.3-522, subject to the conditions and timing specified in that section.

Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. Title 8, Art. 13.3, Part 5 (§§ 8-13.3-501 to 8-13.3-524)

Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act requires employers to permit employees to carry over up to 48 hours of unused accrued paid sick leave from one benefit year to the next. The statute defines "year" as a regular and consecutive twelve-month period as determined by the employer (calendar year, fiscal year, anniversary year, or any other rolling twelve-month period). Carryover is mandatory; employers may not impose a "use it or lose it" policy that forfeits unused accrued leave at year-end.

Annual usage and accrual caps distinguish earned-but-banked hours from usable hours. An employee may accrue up to 48 hours per benefit year at the 1-hour-per-30-hours-worked ratio. An employee may also use up to 48 hours per benefit year. Critically, carryover does not reset the annual accrual entitlement. Under guidance published by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), an employee who carries forward 40 unused hours continues to accrue leave in the new year up to the 48-hour annual accrual cap, meaning the employee can accrue an additional 8 hours in the new year (for a bank total of 48 hours). The employee may use up to 48 hours total in that new benefit year — drawn from the combined bank of carried-over hours and newly accrued hours. Employers are not required to permit carryover of more than 48 hours, though they may elect a more generous policy.

Frontloading alternative. Employers may satisfy the accrual requirement by providing ("frontloading") the full 48 hours of paid sick leave at the beginning of the benefit year instead of allowing employees to accrue leave incrementally. If an employer frontloads the full 48 hours at year-start, the employer has no obligation to permit carryover of unused leave into the subsequent year under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-403(2)(a) and 7 CCR 1103-7, Rule 3.5.2(E)(1). Frontloading eliminates the accrual-tracking burden but requires the employer to make the full bank available immediately.

Immediate-use rule. Employees may use accrued HFWA leave immediately upon accrual, without any waiting period or probationary restriction. Under 7 CCR 1103-7, Rule 3.5.2(D), an employer may verify employee hours within a month after work is performed and adjust accrued leave to correct inaccuracies, provided the employee is notified in writing, but the employer may not delay usage pending that verification. The CDLE has confirmed that employers cannot impose probationary periods or delay the right to use leave once it accrues.

No payout on termination. Unused accrued sick leave does not need to be paid out upon termination, resignation, or other separation from employment under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-403(5)(a), unless the employer's own policy provides for payout. If an employee separates and is rehired by the same employer within six months, previously accrued but unused leave must be reinstated under § 8-13.3-403(5)(b).

Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-13.3-403 Source: 7 CCR 1103-7, Rule 3.5.2 Source: CDLE INFO #6B (May 29, 2024)

Colorado's Healthy Families and Workplaces Act permits employees to use accrued paid sick leave for seven broad categories of qualifying purposes under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-404(1). The statute was expanded effective August 7, 2023, by S.B. 23-017 to add bereavement leave, inclement weather evacuations, and school or childcare closures due to unexpected events. The law protects both an employee's own health and safety needs and parallel needs of the employee's family members.

Category 1: Own illness or health condition. An employee may use leave when a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition prevents the employee from working, or when the employee needs to obtain a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment (including preventive medical care such as vaccinations).

Category 2: Family member's illness or health condition. An employee may use leave to care for a family member who has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition, or who needs to obtain a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment. "Family member" is defined broadly in C.R.S. § 8-13.3-402(6) to include immediate family members (by blood, adoption, marriage, or civil union), children to whom the employee stands in loco parentis (or a person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a minor), and any person for whom the employee is responsible for providing or arranging health- or safety-related care.

Category 3: Domestic abuse, sexual assault, or criminal harassment. An employee who is a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or criminal harassment may use leave to obtain medical attention, mental health care or other counseling, victim services from a victim services organization, legal services (including preparation for or participation in a civil or criminal proceeding relating to or resulting from the domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment), or to seek relocation. Family members of the victim may also use leave for these same purposes under subsection (1)(b).

Category 4: Public health emergency closure. During a declared public health emergency, an employee may use leave when a public official has ordered closure of the employee's place of business or the employee's child's school or place of care, requiring the employee to care for the child.

Category 5: School or place of care closure due to inclement weather or unexpected events (added August 7, 2023). An employee may use leave to care for a family member whose school or place of care has been closed due to inclement weather, loss of power, loss of heating, loss of water, or other unexpected occurrence or event.

Category 6: Evacuation due to inclement weather or unexpected events (added August 7, 2023). An employee may use leave when the employee needs to evacuate the employee's place of residence due to inclement weather, loss of power, loss of heating, loss of water, or other unexpected occurrence or event that results in the need to evacuate.

Category 7: Bereavement and related legal or financial matters (added August 7, 2023). An employee may use leave when the employee needs to grieve, attend funeral services or a memorial, or deal with financial and legal matters that arise after the death of a family member.

Documentation and confidentiality. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has clarified in INFO #6B that employees need not explicitly mention "HFWA" when requesting leave, as long as the request falls within one of the qualifying purposes. Employers may require reasonable documentation for absences of four or more consecutive workdays under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-404(6), but may not require documentation that discloses the details of a health condition, and all health and safety information obtained must be kept confidential and stored separately from personnel files.

Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-13.3-404 Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-13.3-402(6) Source: CDLE INFO #6B (May 29, 2024)

Colorado's FAMLI program distinguishes between eligibility for wage-replacement benefits and eligibility for job protection. An employee who meets the $2,500 earnings threshold under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-503 may receive paid leave benefits from day one of employment, but job-restoration rights attach only after the employee has been employed with the current employer for at least 180 days prior to the commencement of FAMLI leave. Employees with less than 180 days of tenure at the same employer may still qualify for and receive wage-replacement benefits under FAMLI, but the employer is not statutorily obligated under FAMLI to reinstate them to their prior position.

The 180-day job protection threshold. Under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-509(1), a covered individual who has been employed with the current employer for at least 180 days prior to the commencement of family and medical leave and who exercises the right to FAMLI benefits is entitled, upon return from that leave, to be restored to the position held when the leave commenced or to an equivalent position with equivalent employment benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment. The statute places job restoration as a condition on satisfying the 180-day requirement; employees below that threshold receive benefits but not the statutory job-restoration guarantee.

What counts as "employed" for the 180-day calculation. The implementing regulations at 7 CCR 1107-7, Section 7 CCR 1107-7.3 clarify that an individual is considered employed on any day the individual works, on days off, and during any leave (paid or unpaid) where the employer reasonably believes the individual will return to work. The 180-day period is measured in calendar days, not workdays. Leave, vacation time, sick time, or other time away from work can still count toward those 180 days so long as the employer expects the employee to return. Where employment is seasonal, an individual is not considered employed between seasons. For employment agencies and staffing firms, days on which a covered individual was awaiting a work assignment in a staffing pool do not count toward the 180-day calculation under 7 CCR 1107-7.4.

Successor-employer continuity. The replacement of an employer by a "successor employer" (as defined in C.R.S. § 8-13.3-503(8)(b)(II)) does not interrupt an employee's accumulation of days employed for purposes of the 180-day threshold under 7 CCR 1107-7.3(E).

Job protection duration and when restoration is not required. The job protection and employment protection afforded by § 8-13.3-509(1) is limited to the benefit duration provided by C.R.S. § 8-13.3-505 (up to 12 weeks, or 16 weeks for pregnancy complications). The regulations at 7 CCR 1107-7.3 enumerate circumstances in which an employer is not obligated to reinstate an employee:

• The covered individual has not been employed with the current employer for at least 180 days prior to the commencement of the leave.
• The covered individual's leave extends beyond the maximum benefit duration provided by § 8-13.3-505.
• The employee's return coincides with an employer's scheduled cessation of operations for the season (e.g., ski resorts, waterparks) and the employer can show that the employee would not otherwise have been employed at the time of reinstatement.
• The employee's written contract for employment with the employer has ended pursuant to its terms.
• The employee provides written notice of resignation while on leave.
• The Division or a private plan administrator has determined that the employee applied for or was approved for benefits based on a fraudulent certification.
• The employee fails to provide required notice under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-505(5) and the regulations, unless the need for leave was not foreseeable and unusual circumstances justify the failure to comply.

The regulations also provide that no employer is required to postpone or avoid legitimate layoffs or downsizing of a business solely to restore an eligible employee to their prior position upon returning from approved leave, and that an employee's reinstatement to a position slated for elimination due to legitimate downsizing or reorganization would not meet the requirements of an equivalent position when the employee's original position is not slated for elimination.

Interaction with FMLA and local-government opt-out. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides job protection to eligible employees—those who have worked for a covered employer (50 or more employees within 75 miles) for at least 12 months, and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the preceding 12 months. FMLA's job protection obligation does not have a parallel 180-day tenure rule; instead, the 12-month and 1,250-hour thresholds govern. Many FMLA-eligible employees will also satisfy the 180-day FAMLI threshold, but the two tests differ in detail.

Employees of local government employers that opted out of FAMLI under C.R.S. § 8-13.3-522 may still voluntarily elect FAMLI coverage and receive wage-replacement benefits, but their jobs are not protected under the FAMLI statute because the employer has opted out. The FAMLI Division has confirmed that such an employee's leave may still be protected under FMLA if the employer is otherwise FMLA-covered, but the FAMLI job-protection provisions do not apply when the employer has opted out.

Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-13.3-509 Source: 7 CCR 1107-7, Section 7 CCR 1107-7.3 Source: FAMLI Individuals and Families FAQs Source: FAMLI Job Protection and Retaliation

To qualify for Colorado FAMLI wage-replacement benefits, an employee must have earned at least $2,500 in covered wages during their base period. The base period is defined by cross-reference to C.R.S. § 8-70-103(2), which is part of Colorado's unemployment insurance statute. Under that definition, the base period means the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the individual's benefit year—in FAMLI's terminology, the first day of the individual's application year.

Mechanical calculation. A calendar quarter is the three-month period ending March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31 under C.R.S. § 8-70-103(6). To determine the base period for a FAMLI claim filed on any given date, the Division looks back to identify the five most-recently completed calendar quarters (a quarter completes at the end of its final day, not mid-quarter), then counts the four earliest of those five quarters. This lookback skips the most recent completed quarter and uses the four quarters before it.

Example. An employee files a FAMLI claim on June 15, 2024. June 15 falls within the quarter ending June 30, 2024, so that quarter is not yet complete. The five most recently completed quarters are:

• Q1 2024 (Jan. 1 – Mar. 31, 2024)
• Q4 2023 (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2023)
• Q3 2023 (July 1 – Sept. 30, 2023)
• Q2 2023 (Apr. 1 – June 30, 2023)
• Q1 2023 (Jan. 1 – Mar. 31, 2023)

The base period is the first four of those five: Q1 2023, Q2 2023, Q3 2023, and Q4 2023—the four quarters of calendar year 2023. To meet the $2,500 threshold, the employee must have earned at least $2,500 in covered Colorado wages across those four quarters combined. Wages earned in Q1 2024 (the most recent completed quarter) and wages earned in the current quarter (April 1 – June 15, 2024) do not count toward the base-period total.

Alternative base period. If an employee does not meet the $2,500 threshold using the standard base period, the Division will automatically re-calculate eligibility using the alternative base period defined in C.R.S. § 8-70-103(1.5), which means "the last four completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the benefit year." Using the same June 15, 2024 filing date, the alternative base period would be Q1 2024, Q4 2023, Q3 2023, and Q2 2023—the four most-recent completed quarters. The alternative base period substitutes the most recent completed quarter (Q1 2024 in this example) for the oldest quarter in the standard base period (Q1 2023). This provides a second opportunity to qualify for employees whose recent wage history would otherwise not meet the threshold under the standard four-quarter lookback. The FAMLI statute references both the base period and alternative base period in C.R.S. § 8-13.3-503(7), and the implementing regulations confirm the Division applies both tests automatically when assessing the $2,500 earnings requirement (7 CCR 1107-3, Rule 1107-3.2).

Rationale for the lag. The standard base-period formula—which skips the most recent completed quarter—is borrowed from unemployment insurance and reflects the administrative reality that employers have a reporting lag. Quarterly wage reports are typically filed in the month following the quarter's close. By using a base period that omits the most recent completed quarter, the Division relies on wage data that employers have already reported and the Division has already processed, reducing the risk of claims being denied or delayed due to incomplete wage records. The alternative base period closes that gap for employees whose most recent wages would make the difference.

Practical import for HR and leave planners. An employee who has worked for multiple Colorado employers (or a single employer with intermittent or part-time hours) in the past 15 months may qualify for FAMLI benefits even if no single employer perceives them as "full time." The $2,500 threshold is cumulative across all covered employment during the base period and is relatively accessible—approximately ten weeks of part-time work at the state minimum wage (set at $14.42/hour as of January 1, 2024, under C.R.S. § 8-6-109 and 7 CCR 1103-1, Rule 3.1) at 20 hours per week would cross the threshold. Employers should be aware that their payroll-tax contributions create benefit eligibility that follows the employee across the Colorado labor market, not just within a single firm.

Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-13.3-503(7) Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-70-103(2), (1.5), (6) Source: Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-6-109 Source: 7 CCR 1107-3, Rule 1107-3.2 Source: 7 CCR 1103-1, Rule 3.1