Colorado FAMLI Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

Overview

Colorado's Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program provides additional paid leave and job protection for parents whose newborns require Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) care, on top of standard Colorado FAMLI benefits.

For detailed legislative requirements, see our Legislative Guidance.

Policy Status Decisions

This policy is administered by the state unless the employer has an approved plan to administer it on their own.

💡 Best Practice: Follow the state's decision so the policy status matches the state's determination for benefits.

How to Use

Throughout this guidance, look for these labels to quickly identify what actions may be needed:

✅ Automatic: System handles this automatically, no action needed.

📝 Configuration Note: How the policy is set up in the platform.

💡 Best Practice: AbsenceSoft recommendation for optimal management.

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: User must complete this action or track elsewhere.

How AbsenceSoft Manages the Law

AbsenceSoft manages this law through 2 policies.

Policy Name - Colorado FAMLI Neonatal Intensive Care Unit - Paid Leave
Policy Code - CO-FAMLI-NICU-PL
Benefit Type - Paid Leave

Policy Name - Colorado FAMLI Neonatal Intensive Care Unit - Job Protection
Policy Code - CO-FAMLI-NICU-JP
Benefit Type - Job Protection

Administration Options

Colorado FAMLI can be administered through:

State Plan (default) - Administered through the Colorado FAMLI Division
Private Plan (fully insured or self-insured) - Requires custom policies

💡 Best Practice: Employers with a private plan should customize the existing policy to meet their state approved requirements and change the policy type to Company to show the policy is owned by the employer.

Employer Coverage Requirements

Refer to Legislative guidance for details.

Excluded Employers

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Excluded employers are not covered under the law and may need to disable the policy in the platform to keep it from displaying. Discuss decisions with legal counsel for best approach.

Employee Eligibility

Refer to Legislative guidance for details.

CO-FAMLI-NICU-PL is a state paid leave program that may have eligibility criteria tied to wages/earnings that are not available in the platform. Employers should follow the state's determination for the wage replacement policy.

Job protection under CO-FAMLI-NICU-JP is determined by the employer and may be tied to the employee receiving wages under CO-FAMLI-NICU-PL.

💡 Best Practice: Follow the state's decision so the policy status matches the state's determination for eligibility.

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Overrides in eligibility may be required if the state determines the employee has not met the eligibility requirements necessary for paid benefits.

📝 Configuration Note: For consecutive cases, CO-FAMLI-NICU-JP eligibility is determined as of the start of the case that included the original Colorado FAMLI (CO-FAMLI) policy. Employees must meet the 180-day tenure requirement with their employer.

Eligibility Exceptions

Excluded Employees

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Manually override eligibility from pass to fail for excluded employees.

Leave Entitlements and Duration

Refer to Legislative guidance for details.

Entitlement Overview

NICU leave provides an additional entitlement on top of the standard Colorado FAMLI (CO-FAMLI) entitlement for the same absence reason. All absence reasons share a single combined entitlement of up to 12 work weeks, measured over a 12-month period rolling forward. Pregnancy with complications is an exception, which provides up to 16 weeks.

Bonding
Adoption/Foster Care
Pregnancy/Maternity
- Complications = No or blank - Up to 12 weeks in a 12-month period rolling forward
- Complications = YES - up to 16 weeks in a 12-month period rolling forward

Entitlement Rules

✅ Automatic: The platform generates a to-do task on all Colorado Pregnancy/Maternity, Bonding, and Adoption/Foster Care cases asking whether the child was admitted to the NICU; a "Yes" answer prompts a reminder to add the CO-FAMLI-NICU-PL and CO-FAMLI-NICU-JP policies to the case.

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: CO-FAMLI-NICU-PL and CO-FAMLI-NICU-JP must be manually added to the case. NICU leave is only available while the child is receiving inpatient NICU care, so admission and discharge dates should be tracked based on the state's determination.

📝 Configuration Note: NICU policies apply only to Pregnancy/Maternity, Bonding, and Adoption/Foster Care cases. Family Health Condition cases do not qualify for NICU benefits.

💡 Best Practice: Add CO-FAMLI-NICU-PL and CO-FAMLI-NICU-JP at the same time to ensure complete coverage.

📝 Configuration Note: Total combined entitlement across the standard CO-FAMLI policy and the NICU policies is capped at 24 weeks (28 weeks for Pregnancy with Complications).

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: When NICU entitlement is exhausted, the state program provides the determination on next steps. This may include opening a new Family Health Condition case if the state determines it applies, continuing an existing pregnancy disability claim, or transitioning the employee to Bonding.

Required Paperwork/Communication

Refer to Legislative guidance for details.

📝 Configuration Note: AbsenceSoft provides core paperwork for CO-FAMLI through the CO FAMLI Program Notice paperwork/attachment. Paperwork is configured to be sent as part of the Employee Eligibility packet - since the Eligibility packet is sent at case start - this attachment does not go out again when NICU policies are added to the case. Employers with private plans may have different requirements causing the need for a custom paperwork attachment be created with employer specific details.

CO-FAMLI-NICU certification forms are not available in the platform and are made available to the employee through the Colorado FAMLI Division program’s online portal.

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: Customers with customized communications may need to adjust their configurations to include this paperwork.

📝 Configuration Note: Employers are not required to notify their employees of changes to their current CO-FAMLI leave. Therefore, communications do not trigger when a NICU policy is added to the case. Employers wishing to notify their employees of changes to their CO-FAMLI situation may choose to create templates or additional items in workflow to meet the needs of their organization.

Interaction with other Policies

Refer to Legislative guidance for details.

📝 Configuration Note: CO-FAMLI-NICU-PL and CO-FAMLI-NICU-JP are configured to run non-concurrently with Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance (CO-FAMLI) - the platform alerts case managers that the CO-FAMLI-PL/CO-FAMLI-JP and NICU policies cannot be approved for overlapping periods.

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: During an inpatient NICU stay, approve the NICU policies and deny the standard CO-FAMLI policies for the same period, based on the state's determination. When NICU care ends, end the NICU policies on the discharge date and resume the standard CO-FAMLI policies from that date forward.

Managing In-Flight Cases

Colorado's State Average Weekly Wage (SAWW) changes each July impacting benefit amounts for cases that are opened within the July timeframe. Per the Colorado FAMLI Division, active claimants whose weekly benefit amount increases as a result of the new SAWW receive a notification through My FAMLI+ that their benefit has been redetermined. See Payroll Calculations section below for details.

❌ Manual Action or Tracking Required: For CO-FAMLI-NICU-PL cases open within a July timeframe should review any weekly benefit amount redetermination notice issued by the state through My FAMLI+ and update the case's benefit amount in AbsenceSoft to match the state's redetermined amount.

💡 Best Practice: Proactively confirm with claimants whether they have received a redetermination notice for weeks paid within the July timeframe, since the increased SAWW may raise their weekly benefit amount.

Payroll Calculations

This policy uses a Base Wage Calculation Method developed from information published by the state of Colorado. It aims to closely replicate the calculations performed by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) FAMLI Division.

Pay History

Uses the 5 most-recent quarterly totals, with the most recent quarter removed.

📝 Configuration Note: Gross quarterly totals include all wages reported to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), including base wages, overtime, bonuses, commissions, and tips. Annual bonuses are reported in the quarter paid; because Colorado uses the single highest remaining quarter, a large bonus in one quarter may increase the estimate.

Policy Configuration

A State Average Weekly Wage (SAWW) and a State Weekly Max are configured in the policy's Benefit Settings.

📝 Configuration Note: SAWW is $1,608.91 and the State Weekly Max is $1,448.02, effective July 1, 2026.

Colorado Base Wage Calculation Method Logic

Retrieve Pay History:
1. Retrieve the last five full quarters of pay history prior to the Leave Start Date. Remove the most recent quarter, leaving the oldest four.
Calculate the employee's Average Weekly Wage (AWW):
1. Identify the quarter with the highest total earnings among the remaining four.
2. Divide the highest quarterly earnings by 13 to determine the employee's Average Weekly Wage (AWW).
Calculate the Base Weekly Wage:
1. Retrieve the State Average Weekly Wage (SAWW) and state max from Benefit Settings within the Policy Configuration.
2. For the portion of AWW up to 50% of SAWW, apply the state benefit percent (90%): (SAWW x 0.50) x 0.90.
3. For the portion of AWW above 50% of SAWW, apply the state benefit percent (50%): (AWW - (SAWW x 0.50)) x 0.50.
4. Add the two values together to determine the estimated weekly benefit.
5. If the calculated benefit exceeds the state max, cap the result at the state max.
6. Return this as the Base Weekly Wage.

📝 Configuration Note: The value returned is an AbsenceSoft estimate based on the state's published formula. This estimate should be used for planning purposes only and confirmed against the official state determination before being treated as final.

Need Help?

For questions about policy configuration or case management, contact your AbsenceSoft support team or consult the Legislative Guidance for compliance details.