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February 25, 2025

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.

In the spotlight: Get your annual employee headcount updated by Feb. 28

All employers with Colorado employees must update their headcounts for 2025 in My FAMLI+ Employer by Friday, February 28, 2025. 

It’s a requirement for all employers with Colorado employees. Employers with approved private plans will not see this task this year in My FAMLI+ Employer, but can expect to see it in the future. The only exceptions are local government employers that have completed the required steps to opt out of the program. 

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’ll be required to send in 0.9% of wages each quarter in 2025.

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. 

As a refresher, employers with 10 or more employees are required to send in 0.9% of wages every quarter, and those with nine or fewer employees will be responsible for sending 0.45% of wages. Employers of any size have the option of deducting up to 0.45% of wages from employees to cover their required premium liability.

Log in to your My FAMLI+ Employer account, and you will find the Annual Total Employees (ATE) Task by navigating to the My Tasks tab. 

The My FAMLI+ Employer portal will provide the headcount used in 2024, and employers can simply update that number for 2025. Here’s how it will look:

Not sure how to count employees? Here’s a handy refresher:

Your total headcount will be calculated by counting the number of employees you have on your payroll nationwide for a total of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the preceding calendar year. 

The graphic below shows this 20-calendar-week concept in four examples:

Visit famli.colorado.gov/employers for more help in determining your employee headcount.

The Annual Total Employees headcount needs to be completed by employers. Third party administrators are not able to complete this task on behalf of their clients or through bulk upload. 

If you have any questions about updating your employee headcount, check out our My FAMLI+ Employer user guide for support.

Self-employed? These missing tasks could block your claim

Self-employed workers who want FAMLI coverage need to do two things before they file a claim and collect FAMLI benefit payments: verify their identity, and provide a tax transcript. This information ensures the FAMLI Division uses the correct income when they file a claim.  Your elected FAMLI coverage won’t be complete until you upload a government-issued ID and tax transcript in My FAMLI+ Employer.  If you intend to voluntarily participate in the FAMLI program as a self-employed worker, please log in and make sure these tasks are completed. You can find step-by-step directions in our My FAMLI+ Employer User Guide.   If you are self-employed and do not intend to participate in FAMLI and have a My FAMLI+ Employer account that was registered by mistake, please log in and submit an Account Participation Status Change request.

Reminder for Third Party Administrators (TPAs) serving small businesses

You should be reporting wages only for workers who meet the FAMLI definition of "employee." 

While that definition is very broad, there is a limited exception. A person is not an employee if two things are true: 

1. They're primarily free from control in the performance of their work; and
2. They're performing that work as a part of their own business. 

Many business owners will fall under that exception, and therefore will not be considered an employee, even though they might pay themselves some W-2 wages. 

On the other hand, some business owners may own a small stake of the business and will not fall under that exception, meaning that they are employees. In other words, receiving W-2 wages doesn't necessarily make you an employee for FAMLI purposes, and being a business owner doesn't necessarily make you a non-employee for FAMLI purposes. 

Business owners who don't meet the FAMLI definition of "employee" are considered self-employed for FAMLI purposes and may choose to elect coverage as a self-employed individual. However, they don't have to. 

In order to better serve the businesses that rely on you for accurate wage reporting, you should talk to them and make sure that you are not reporting wages for owners who are not considered employees and do not intend to participate as a self-employed worker.

Contact FAMLI

The FAMLI Contact Center is open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. 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