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November 25, 2024

This is an official communication from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s
Family & Medical Leave Insurance Division.

Welcome to our newsletter for the employer and business community. Here you’ll find everything your organization needs to know to effectively navigate FAMLI. Be sure to check your subscription preferences to get the most impactful updates.

New task in My FAMLI+ Employer coming soon

All employers will see a new task coming to their My FAMLI+ Employer dashboard on December 10, 2024. The annual task requires all employers to update their total employee headcount. This also applies to employers with approved private plans. 

Remember, the total employee headcount impacts an employer’s premium rate. If an employer has employees outside of Colorado, the headcount should reflect their total nationwide headcount to include those out-of-state employees. If an employer has 10 or more employees, they are liable for sending 0.9% of wages to the Division every quarter. If an employer has nine or fewer employees, they are liable for 0.45% of wages. 

NEW this year: if your Annual Total Employee headcount is not updated by February 28, 2025, the FAMLI Division will assume you have 10 or more employees. 

This means that if an employer had nine or fewer employees for 2024, they MUST update their headcount for 2025 to continue paying 0.45%. We won’t carry over your total headcount from the previous year. 

Check out the Determining Your Employee Headcount section of our Employers page and keep an eye out for the new task in your My FAMLI+ Employer dashboard starting on December 10, 2024.

Using a private plan? Complete your annual attestation today! 

It’s that time of year for employers using an approved private plan (whether through a carrier or self-insured) to meet their FAMLI obligation to get their annual private plan attestation done. 

Employers with private plans have a new critical task in My FAMLI+ Employer to attest that their private plan still meets all FAMLI requirements. This annual attestation is required by FAMLI’s Private Plan Rules. My FAMLI+ Employer sent notifications to employers with approved private plans earlier this month to complete the task and verify their contact information is up to date.

Annual private plan attestations are considered a critical task, which means users will need to complete it before they are able to do anything else in the My FAMLI+ Employer portal.

For more information, see the private plan page under the Employers tab on our website.

Want to switch your business from a private plan to the FAMLI plan? Here’s what you need to know

Colorado employers have a choice when meeting their obligations to offer paid family and medical leave to their employees. They may use the FAMLI Division to file quarterly wage reports and premiums, or they may apply for the Division’s approval to use a private insurance plan that meets or exceeds the law’s requirements. Now some Colorado employers are telling us that the State’s FAMLI plan may be more convenient for them, and they want to know how to unwind their private plan coverage and participate in the FAMLI plan instead.  Good news – it’s not a difficult change to make! Check out this blog post for details about making the switch.

A new appeals process is coming soon!

We’re upgrading our appeals process to help anyone who wants the FAMLI Division to take another look at a decision.

The upgrade, which goes live early next month, gives employers a new platform to file and manage appeals. Once the upgrade is live, employers will need to create an account in My FAMLI+ to file, manage or track an appeal. My FAMLI+ is different from My FAMLI+ Employer, which is the portal employers use to submit quarterly wage reports and premium payments. Don’t worry, we’ll provide how-to videos and step-by-step user guides to walk you through the process and set you up for success. 

The upgrade also means that legal representatives and other interested parties can create an appeals account within My FAMLI+ to file, manage or track FAMLI appeals even if they don’t have an existing claimant or employer account. 

Stay tuned for those new training tools and keep an eye on your inboxes for when the new system is live!

Your employees are getting a new tax option 

FAMLI claimants are getting a new option when it comes to their federal income tax withholding.

Starting in January, claimants will be able to decide whether they’d like the FAMLI Division to withhold federal income tax from their benefits. 

This will be a simple opt-in or opt-out option, with the rate being set at a flat 10%. Active claims won’t change, though active claimants will have the option to change their tax withholding preferences in their Payments Dashboards within My FAMLI+.

Remember that Colorado does not tax FAMLI benefits. However, the IRS has not issued formal guidance on whether FAMLI benefits are subject to federal income tax. 

If your employees would like to have federal taxes withheld from their FAMLI benefit payments, the funds will automatically be withheld from future payments, and FAMLI will remit the withheld amount to the IRS. Claimants can change their tax decision at any point for future payments, but they cannot retroactively collect funds that have previously been withheld.

New hours for the FAMLI Contact Center

Please note that on December 2, the Contact Center hours will change to 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. This will allow us to better serve our callers. The best time to call is between 7:30 and 10 a.m. You can reach us at 1-866-CO-FAMLI (1-866-263-2654) and for general questions at: CDLE_FAMLI_info@state.co.us