{"id":36580,"date":"2022-12-29T10:30:14","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T17:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-paid-family-leave-program-kicking-off-jan-1\/"},"modified":"2022-12-29T17:30:14","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T17:30:14","slug":"colorados-paid-family-leave-program-kicking-off-jan-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-paid-family-leave-program-kicking-off-jan-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s paid family leave program kicking off Jan. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Amazon
Amazon workers at the company\u2019s facility on Himalaya Road in Aurora sort and then move trolleys loaded with packages to an area where they will be loaded on trucks for delivery Dec. 6, 2022.<\/span>Hart Van Denburg\/CPR News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Starting Jan. 1, private employees across Colorado will see up to 0.45 % of their paychecks withheld to pay for a statewide program that will eventually provide paid leave for workers.<\/p>\n

Up to $4.50 for every $1,000 of wages will be withheld from many worker\u2019s paychecks.<\/p>\n

The money will go toward the state\u2019s new Family & Medical Leave Insurance program, which will launch in 2024. Once active, it will partially replace workers\u2019 wages while they go on leave for childbirth, adoption, serious health conditions and more.<\/p>\n

Voters approved the significant new public benefit<\/a> in the 2020 election, and state officials are now racing to set it up. The beginning of premium payments in 2023 represents one of the first major milestones.<\/p>\n

Every private employer in the state will be required to start making the premium payments in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless you\u2019re self-employed, this will impact your business in one way or another,\u201d said Tracy Marshall, division director for the new FAMLI program.<\/p>\n

Companies will be responsible for withholding the premiums from their workers\u2019 paychecks starting Jan. 1. State officials are encouraging employers to explain the changes to employees now to avoid confusion in the new year.<\/p>\n

Some employees will see smaller deductions, if their bosses choose to cover some or all of their cost. The withholdings should be noted on paystubs, Marshall said.<\/p>\n

Many companies also will be required to contribute additional premiums worth another 0.45 % of each employee\u2019s wages. Companies also will have to register with the state\u2019s new My FAMLI+ portal<\/a> for businesses, which they\u2019ll use to pay the money to the state.<\/p>\n

The state launched that service just a few weeks ago, but businesses won\u2019t have to register until mid-2023, when they actually have to send the money to the state, Marshall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey still have some breathing room to get that registration done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Only the smallest companies \u2013 those with nine or fewer employees \u2013 will be exempted from paying the company\u2019s share of the wages. But their employees still will owe the 0.45 %, which the employer still would collect by withholding.<\/p>\n

Companies can offer their own plans instead \u2013 but not yet<\/div>\n

Companies can offer their own paid leave programs as an alternative. If those programs meet the state\u2019s requirements<\/a>, the company and its employees will be exempted from paying premiums to the FAMLI program.<\/p>\n

But, for now, it\u2019s impossible to get that exemption. The state is not yet accepting applications for companies to prove they have a qualifying program.<\/p>\n

That means that every employer, whether or not they\u2019re already offering paid leave, will have to start withholding wages Jan. 1. The state hopes to begin accepting applications for waivers by the end of the first quarter of 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it was time constraints,\u201d Marshall said, referring to the state\u2019s process for accepting and reviewing companies\u2019 waiver requests. \u201cThere just wasn\u2019t the time to be able to get the platform built and make it robust enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the state eventually finds that a private company had an acceptable replacement benefit all along, it will refund the premiums to the company, which would then be responsible for returning the money to employees.<\/p>\n

The major deadlines for the program \u2013 including collecting premiums in 2023 and launching benefits in 2024 \u2013 were written into the law that voters approved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t move those dates,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n

The state has been working for months to prepare employers and employees for the change, Marshall added, but she acknowledged some people may be surprised to see their wages reduced after New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re certainly trying to reach everyone,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt going to be some folks that the message just never got to them, and this feels like a surprise. They voted on this a long time ago \u2013 they may not have recalled how they voted on this. But ultimately it was voted in, so it\u2019s our job now to carry that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who will get paid leave in Colorado?<\/div>\n

Once the program launches, every private employee in Colorado will be eligible to have a portion of their wages covered for 12 weeks for the following reasons:<\/p>\n

The birth, adoption or fostering of a new child.<\/div>\n
Medical care for them or their family.<\/div>\n
Addressing the impacts of domestic violence.<\/div>\n
Military service of a family member.<\/div>\n

People facing complications in pregnancy or childbirth will qualify for an additional four weeks. The program will only partially replace people\u2019s wages<\/a> while they\u2019re on leave.<\/p>\n

There is one group that was exempted from the law. Local governments are allowed to opt out of the program. Many have already done so<\/a>. A few are offering their own programs instead. Employees of the other nonparticipating cities will still be allowed to pay into FAMLI, and use its benefits, as individuals.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Employers are required to start collecting premiums for the new FAMLI program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1362],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-southwest-life"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36580"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}