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 December 31, 2024
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This is an official communication from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s
Family & Medical Leave Insurance Division.
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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. |
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 Don’t forget to update your employee headcount for 2025
It’s time to update your employee headcount, so your premium rates are correct in 2025! All employers that use the FAMLI Division to cover their paid-leave obligations should see this task in your My FAMLI+ Employer dashboard. (Employers with approved private plans will not see this task in My FAMLI+ Employer.)
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 and you will be liable for the full 0.9% of wages.
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 for more details.
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Using a private plan? Complete your annual attestation today!
It’s also that time of year for employers using an approved private plan (whether through a carrier or self-insured) 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.
Because this is a critical task, users will need to complete it before they are able to do anything else in the My FAMLI+ Employer portal.
Private plan administrators, who in some cases may be the employer’s Professional Employer Organization (PEO), are able to complete this task on your behalf if you have an approved private plan. So if you log into My FAMLI + Employer and do not see this critical task, your private plan administrator may have completed this task on your behalf.
The FAMLI Division will soon be delivering "Notices of Withdrawal of Private Plan Approval" to private plan employers who fail to complete this task. You will have 49 days to appeal the notice before your private plan is no longer approved. If you complete the task within those 49 days, your private plan will not be revoked.
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 New! The improved Appeals Portal is live
We’ve upgraded our appeals process for employers who want to dispute a FAMLI decision and ask for another review.
Now employers can create an appeals account within My FAMLI+ to file, manage and track all FAMLI-related appeals. This is separate from the My FAMLI+ Employer portal employers use to pay premiums and submit wage reports.
Remember that the first step when challenging a FAMLI decision is to request a reconsideration (previously known as filing a grievance). Employers can either mail in their request for reconsideration after receiving the determination notice from FAMLI with those instructions, or they can fill out the request online.
If you still disagree with FAMLI’s decision after you complete the reconsideration process, you may choose to file an appeal. Review the resources on our Appeals page for more details.
Keep in mind that all appeals filed before December 5, 2024 were not carried over into My FAMLI+. So if you have an active case currently in the FAMLI appeals process, please continue to use cdle_famli_hearing@state.co.us to communicate with the hearings officer and file documents.
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Attention self-employed participants! Note some updates effective January 1, 2025
Self-employed Coloradans who have decided to get FAMLI coverage should know that some FAMLI rules, including those for self-employed participants, are changing on January 1, 2025. Here are some of them:
- Only Colorado residents are eligible to opt in to FAMLI coverage.
- Self-employed FAMLI participants that issue themselves W-2 statements from their business will need to add them to the list of documents they need to share, so their premiums and benefits are correctly calculated.
- Self-employed workers will no longer be able to file retroactive claims. After Jan. 1, elective coverage begins on the date the notice of election is filed in My FAMLI+ Employer.
Check out the complete list of rule changes on our Rules & Guidance page.
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FAMLI claimants will soon have more control over their tax decisions
Your employees who use FAMLI will soon have 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.
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New Maximum Benefit Amount
If you allow your employees to top-off their FAMLI benefit payments with other employer-provided leave, be aware that starting in January, the maximum weekly benefit amount will increase from $1,100 to $1,324.21 due to Colorado’s increased average weekly wage. This only applies to new claims with leave start dates on or after January 1, 2025. Current, active claims will not be recalculated.
Private plan employers: please ensure your benefit amount calculations reflect the new weekly cap for all leave claims beginning on or after January 1, 2025 to maintain your compliance.
2025 Federal Social Security Wage Cap
FAMLI premiums are paid on subject wages up to the Federal Social Security Wage Cap. The cap is set at $176,100 for earnings in 2025. When submitting Q1 2025 wage reports next year (due on April 30, 2025), be sure you’re not reporting higher than that amount in the "subject wages" field and update your bulk wage files accordingly.
We have file specifications and templates for bulk wage reporting for both third party administrators and single filers on our TPA page and under the “Submitting Your Wage Reports” section of our Employers page.
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 Employers are asking: Hot topics from our latest employer webinar
If an employee returns to work earlier than the end date of their approved leave, does the employer need to notify the FAMLI Division? Claimants are required to notify FAMLI if their leave ends earlier than what was approved. If and when they do that, the employer will receive an updated eligibility notice with a changed end date that reflects the change. If your employee fails to notify us, the employer should request a reconsideration on that claim to let us know that the employee returned to work sooner than what was approved.
Do employers have to send out an annual notice to let employees know about FAMLI? No. Employers are required to post the FAMLI Required Program Notice.
If an employee will have a FAMLI leave transferred from a previous company, will the current employer be notified? All FAMLI claimants are required to notify us if there is a change to employment while on a currently approved claim. If a claimant adds a new employer to the list of employers from which they are taking leave, that new employer will then begin to receive leave and claim notices.
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Important message about UI compliance
Colorado employers who meet the liability criteria are required by law to submit quarterly wage detail reports to the Division of Unemployment Insurance (UI). Employer-reported information is a crucial part of maintaining the integrity of UI benefit payments and statewide employment statistics. Meeting your quarterly reporting requirements also ensures an accurate calculation of your yearly UI premium rate.
Reporting employee wages to the FAMLI and UI Divisions must be done separately in each Division’s employer system. Wages reported to FAMLI are not carried over to UI.
Please log into your MyUI Employer+ account and ensure you are up-to-date on your required quarterly wage reports. Employers (and agents) can view any quarters missing reports in the “Missing Wage Report” section of the Employer Home page.
If you have stopped paying covered wages, please initiate an account suspension inside MyUI Employer+.
The UI Division has resources available to help you submit your missing wage reports and view your submission history online:
If you are unable to submit your quarterly wage reports by electronic means and have good cause to submit the required information by mail, please contact UI Employer Services at 303-318-9100 (Denver Metro) or (800) 480-8299 (toll free) and request a Non-Electronic Communications Waiver. Note: The UI Division will only accept paper wage reports submitted by mail from employers with a valid non-electronic communications waiver.
Contact FAMLI
Please note that as of December 2, the FAMLI Contact Center is open 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
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