Colorado General Assembly Passes Bill Granting Additional FAMLI Leave in Certain Circumstances and Prescribing New FAMLI Premium Rates
Colorado General Assembly Passes Bill Granting Additional FAMLI Leave in Certain Circumstances and Prescribing New FAMLI Premium Rates
Brett A. Whitley, Associate
The Rocky Mountain Employer has been tracking Senate Bill 25-144 (“SB25-144”) since it was first introduced in the Colorado General Assembly during the current legislative session.[1] As previously discussed, SB25-144, if signed into law, will affect both employee and employer rights and responsibilities under Colorado’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act and program (“FAMLI”). On May 2, 2025, the Colorado General Assembly passed SB25-144 and sent the bill to Governor Polis for his signature. Assuming Governor Polis does not veto the bill, qualifying employees will be entitled to additional leave benefits if their child is receiving inpatient care in a neonatal intensive care unit (“NICU”), starting in 2026. Further, if signed into law, SB25-144 will set the parameters for the establishment of premium amounts for the FAMLI program for the next several years.
SB25-144 – Additional FAMLI Leave
FAMLI currently provides that qualifying employees may receive up to twelve weeks of paid family and medical leave for the Act’s enumerated purposes per year, but covered individuals with a serious health condition related to pregnancy or childbirth complications may take an additional four weeks of paid leave, totaling sixteen weeks. Now, SB25-144 provides an additional twelve weeks of paid leave for employees if the employee is a parent who has a child receiving inpatient care in a NICU.
The initial version of SB25-144 was unclear as to whether the additional twelve weeks of NICU paid leave would run concurrently with the four weeks of paid leave granted to an employee with a serious health condition related to pregnancy or childbirth complications. However, the Colorado Senate revised SB25-144 in March of 2025 and in so doing, replaced “OR,” which was used to separate the four-week additional leave provision for pregnancy/childbirth complications from the twelve-week additional leave for NICU care in the initial draft of SB25-144, for “AND.”[2] This replacement clarifies the Senate’s intent to permit an employee to take twelve weeks of FAMLI leave for qualifying reasons, plus an additional four weeks of leave due to pregnancy or childbirth complications, and then an additional twelve weeks of leave for NICU care after childbirth—totaling 28 weeks of potentially-protected paid family and medical leave under the program in one year. Therefore, now that SB25-144 has passed, and assuming that Governor Polis signs the bill into law, employees will be able to take an additional twelve weeks of paid leave beyond FAMLI’s ordinary twelve- and four-week allotments if the employee is a parent who has a child receiving inpatient care in a NICU and the employee’s claim for the additional twelve weeks of paid NICU-related leave arises on or after January 1, 2026.[3]
SB25-144 – New Premium Rules
Though the premium amount for 2025 will remain 0.9% of wages per employee, SB25-144’s passage will require the Director of the FAMLI Division to decrease the premium amount for 2026 to 0.88% of wages per employee. For 2027 and the years thereafter, SB25-144 will require the Director to set, by rule, on September 1 of the preceding year, the premium rates such that the rates would result in six months’ worth of projected expenditures from the FAMLI fund required for the performance of the functions and duties of the Director. However, the Director could not set the rate higher than 1.2% of an employee’s wages.
Employer Considerations
If signed, SB25-144 will take effect on August 6, 2025, (the 91st day following the final adjournment of the Colorado General Assembly) unless a referendum petition is filed pursuant to the Colorado Constitution against SB25-144 or any part thereof. If such a petition is filed, then SB25-144 or any part thereof put at issue by such a petition will not take effect unless approved by the voters in the November 2026 elections and, in such case, will take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by the Governor Elect of Colorado. In any event, SB25-144 and its passage within the General Assembly further reflects Colorado’s progressive approach to employee leave entitlements—particularly compared to federal law. Campbell Litigation will continue to monitor SB25-144 and other bills before Governor Polis as the current legislative session nears its end.
[1] https://www.rockymountainemployersblog.com/blog/2025/2/13/colorado-general-assembly-introduces-new-bills-relating-to-famli-benefit-durations-premium-amounts-and-job-reinstatement-rights.
[2] https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2025A/bills/2025a_144_rev.pdf.
[3] See https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2025A/bills/2025a_144_enr.pdf for the full text of SB25-144.