A reminder for all Colorado employers: you have one month until you begin collecting premiums under Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program (FAMLI). FAMLI is Colorado’s state-administered insurance program that will provide benefits to employees for some types of leave starting January 1, 2024. Premiums for employers with 10 or more employees nationwide are split equally between employers and Colorado employees at a rate of 0.9% of Colorado wages. Smaller employers, with less than 10 employees, are only required to remit the employee share of the premium, .45%. 

Unless you intend to pay the employee’s premium yourself, employers must deduct premiums from employees beginning January 1, 2023. Remittance of the first quarter premiums is due April 30, 2023. Even employers that will apply for an exemption from paying premiums based on an approved private plan must begin premium collection and remittance. Many employers are already working with their payroll provider to begin collecting the premiums. 

Under FAMLI regulations, employers that miss the coming deadline, even inadvertently, face difficult consequences. Employers may not make a catch-up deduction in future pay periods. When an employer fails to make wage deductions for FAMLI premiums starting January 1st, the employer will be required to cover the employee’s share of the premium going forward. 

The state’s FAMLI website provides useful tools and important information that we recommend you access soon. 

  • By April 30, 2023, employers must enroll with, and submit premiums and wage reports to, the My FAMLI+ Employer portal that is, as of December 1, 2022, accessible to all employers for enrollment.
  • The FAMLI Division has published a sample Paycheck Stuffer that employers can provide employees when deductions begin. 
  • By January 1, 2023, employers are also required to post the 2023 FAMLI Program Notice poster in a prominent, visible workplace location accessed by all employees.