As of Jan. 1, 2023, Colorado employers must comply with Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) Act, which requires nearly all employers and all employees to contribute to the state’s paid family and medical leave program.

FAMLI Benefits for Colorado Employees

Colorado’s FAMLI program will provide Colorado employees with up to twelve weeks of paid time off for certain qualifying life events, similar to federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) qualifying events. Qualifying events include:

Sick days happen. And when they do, employees need to be able to have the time they need to care for their health. It is, of course, in your best interest and theirs to allow employees adequate time. You want to ensure that your employees are healthy, happy, and operating at full capacity for the benefit of your company. But you also need to comply with FMLA requirements.

It’s always good to be reminded about behaviors or policies that could lead to legal trouble. One such reminder comes from section 105 of the FMLA, which indicates that interfering, restraining or improperly denying the benefits of the FMLA also includes not discouraging in any way usage of the FMLA. If this message was clear and obvious to all employers, then it would seem violations of this nature wouldn’t still occur, but unfortunately, they do.

You know you want to handle all ADAAA accommodations properly and appropriately, but this goes beyond correctly participating in the interactive process. The process of returning an employee to full-duty should begin before they’ve missed the first day of work associated with a possible absence or require an accommodation. How? The need for a modified work situation or absence is not typically a sudden event but develops over time.

*This week’s post is brought to you by Optis’ National Sales Representative, [Scott Lenox](https://www.linkedin.com/reg/join?trk=login_reg_redirect&session_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fprofile%2Fview%3Fid%3D10504852%26authToken%3DWasF%26authType%3DNAME_SEARCH%26trk%3Dnmp_rec_act_profile_photo).* *“Where attention goes, energy flows and results show.” -T.

It happens. No matter how well you think you’ve trained your staff on FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) compliance, or how well you’ve informed employees about their rights, or how closely you think you’ve managed the FMLA process, employees sometimes seek retaliation.

For that simple reason — and despite your company’s best intentions and actions — it’s good to understand: