(The Center Square) – Approximately $311 million was distributed to 62,000 workers who filed claims under Colorado’s new Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program since payments started in January.
Colorado became the first state to establish a partial paid-leave program when voters passed Proposition 118 in November 2020. The initiative allows all Colorado workers to obtain up to 12 weeks of paid leave to take care of themselves or their families during circumstances keeping them from working. Those experiencing pregnancy or childbirth complications can receive an additional four weeks.
Colorado businesses and workers began paying premiums to fund the insurance program in 2023. The state provides an online premium and benefits estimates calculator. A worker with a $75,000 annual income would pay $6.49 per week, or $337.48 annually, and their employee would pay the same amounts. The weekly leave pay would be approximately $1,015.
Premiums are paid on wages up to the Federal Social Security Wage Gap, set at $168,600 for earnings in 2024.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the work we’ve done to bring Colorado workers the benefits they voted for,” Tracy Marshall, director of the FAMLI Division, said in a statement. “We’re on solid financial footing for the future, thanks to all the Colorado employers and workers who stepped up to build this insurance fund a year and a half ago.”
The division, under the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, provided statistics on the first six months of claims data. The average payment for workers taking leave is $915.30.
The average number of days for workers taking continuous leave was 53.3 days. Approximately 44,400 or 71% of workers who complete their leaves under the program returned to work.
The division reported 38,510 workers submitted claims to care for their own serious health condition and 32,834 submitted clams “to bond with a new child.”
“Now we have a program that is already helping Colorado workers care for themselves and their families when they need to, and we’re seeing other states look to us as they build their own programs,” Marshall said.
The payments are determined by a sliding scale using an worker’s average weekly wage from the previous five calendar quarters and Colorado’s average weekly wage. The division announced an increase of approximately 3.5% to the state’s weekly wage on July 1, now $1,471.34. Therefore, the first $735.67 of a worker’s average weekly wage will be replaced at a rate of 90% and the remaining amount of the wage at 50%.
The division reported all claims won’t be impacted by the increase, but some currently on leave might see an increase in their benefit.
In conjunction with Father’s Day in June, the division announced more than 11,000 Colorado fathers took paid paternity leave in 2024 under the new program.
