FAMLI Business Brief: Q3 wage reports are due Oct 31

Colorado Department of Labor and Employment sent this bulletin at 09/30/2026 02:30 PM MDT

September 30, 2026

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

The FAMLI Business Brief provides employers with
operational updates on the FAMLI program.

Employer Actions & Deadlines
My FAMLI+ Employer Portal Report
What You Can Require, and When
Beyond FAMLI

Before You Call
FAMLI Business Toolkit
Questions or Feedback

A woman hands a pen to a man to her right, gesturing for him to sign a document.

Employer Actions & Deadlines

Time-sensitive to-do’s for Colorado employers.

2026 Q3 Wage Reports and Premiums

Deadline: Oct 31, 2026

Applies to all employers using a FAMLI plan & reporting wages in My FAMLI+ Employer.

Q3 filing opens October 1. Submit 2026 Q3 wage reports and premium payments in My FAMLI+ Employer by October 31. For help, see FAMLI’s how-to-videos, user guides, file specifications, and sample templates.

Private Plan Administrative Reports

Deadline: Oct 31, 2026

Applies to all SIPP Employers only.

Submit 2026 Q3 reports using the new template. Reports should be emailed to: CDLE_FAMLI_PrivatePlan_Reporting@state.co.us

Post the FAMLI Program Notice

Deadline: ASAP

Applies to all employers using a FAMLI plan. Employers with a private plan post their plan’s own program notice.

Posting and providing the FAMLI Program Notice keeps you in compliance. It’s the official document covering employee rights, available benefits, how contributions work, and how to apply for leave, and only the official notice meets the requirement.

Bookmark the Program Notice Cheat Sheet blog

Heads-up: 2027 Premium Rate

Effective Jan 1, 2027

Applies to all employers using a FAMLI plan.

The 2027 premium rate will be 0.86% of wages, down from 0.88% in 2026.

Updating your payroll settings before your first 2027 pay run keeps deductions accurate from the start.

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My FAMLI+ Employer Portal Report

You asked, we changed it.

Live as of September 3

Two-way messaging center. Send and receive messages with FAMLI inside My FAMLI+ Employer, with the full conversation history and any shared documents kept in one place.
Claim ID column. The claims table now includes a Claim ID column. You can export claims data, see weekly payment amounts made to an employee, and return to your filtered search results after opening a single claim.

New as of October 1

Bulk wage files can include ITINs. Employers and TPAs can upload bulk wage files that list Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) for employees who don’t have a Social Security number.
A confirmation screen after your file passes its first check. When a bulk wage file clears the in-browser check, a confirmation screen tells you the file was accepted and processing is still running. Full results arrive by email to your account’s primary contact. If someone else files for your business, confirm the primary contact is the person who needs those results.

Recent Portal Performance

	Baseline	Target	September 2026	August 2026
Ticket Resolution	84 hrs	72 hrs	84 hrs	53 hrs
Bulk Payments	10 hrs	5 hrs	3 mins	3 mins
Wage Uploads	27 mins	15 mins	3 mins	4 mins
Premium Calculation	6.25 hrs	30 mins	5 mins	34 mins

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What You Can Require, and When

How FAMLI works alongside PTO, sick leave, FMLA, and your own benefits.

Can you require an employee to...	Answer
Use PTO or sick leave before or during FAMLI leave	No
Exhaust FMLA leave before using FAMLI	No
Use FAMLI before receiving discretionary employer benefits (employer-paid parental or bonding leave, most short- and long-term disability)	Yes, with written notice

Two reminders that prevent most payroll questions

Top-offs. An employee can “top-off” their FAMLI benefit with accrued PTO or sick leave, as long as the combined total stays at or below their average weekly wage.

FMLA overlap. When an employee uses FAMLI for a reason that also qualifies under FMLA, the two generally run concurrently. Your FMLA designation and tracking practices affect how they interact, so confirm your approach with your own counsel. Employees can be directed to our FAMLI and FMLA page and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Review your leave policies against these rules, and any time your handbook changes.

Beyond FAMLI

Programs and credits outside FAMLI that may apply to your workforce.

Colorado Paid Sick Leave (HFWA)

Paid sick leave under the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act is a separate CDLE program with its own rules. Employees earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours a year, for shorter absences. FAMLI covers longer leave for a serious health condition, family care, bonding, and safe leave.

Colorado SecureSavings

Employers that don’t offer a workplace retirement plan may need to register with Colorado SecureSavings, the state’s retirement savings program, or certify an exemption. The program charges employers no fees.

Before You Call

Answers to the most common Call Center questions that save you time now.

Got a “new message” email from FAMLI? Log in to My FAMLI+ Employer to read it. If you also have individual elective coverage, check My FAMLI+ too, since the email doesn’t yet name the portal.
Following up on a closed ticket? Start a new message in the messaging center. Replies to a ticket that’s already closed don’t receive a response.
Checking a bulk file’s results? Starting October 1, full results for each bulk wage file go by email to your account’s primary contact. Check that inbox before calling.
A notice went to the wrong person, or never arrived? You control who receives which FAMLI communications under “Correspondence Preferences” in your My FAMLI+ Employer account. Updating your contacts there fixes it going forward.