This is an official communication from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s
Family & Medical Leave Insurance Division. |
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In the Spotlight: Taking advantage of FAMLI’s new tax option |
FAMLI claimants have a new option when it comes to their federal income tax withholding! |
Claimants can now decide whether they’d like the FAMLI Division to withhold federal income tax from their benefits. This will be a simple opt-in or opt-out option, with the rate being set at a flat 10%. |
Active claims won’t change, though those claimants have the option to change their tax withholding preferences in their Payments Dashboards within My FAMLI+. |
If you decide to have federal income taxes withheld, the funds will automatically be withheld from future benefit payments, and FAMLI will remit the withheld amount on your behalf to the IRS. |
FAMLI will report to the IRS the amount of FAMLI benefits paid to each claimant during the year. Claimants who elected to receive their 1099-G by mail should be receiving it over the next few weeks. If you did not elect to receive it by mail, please log in to your My FAMLI+ account to access your 1099-G. All 1099-G’s will be available in My FAMLI+ by January 23, 2025. |
All claimants who received at least $10 in FAMLI benefit payments last year will get a 1099-G. |
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Reporting your Intermittent Leave if you have a rolling 30-day Absence Parameter |
We have some important things to share with you to help you avoid seeing errors when reporting your intermittent absence hours into My FAMLI+. As a reminder, you will receive a Report Leave Hours task in My FAMLI+ every week. For each day that you report your absences in the My FAMLI+ portal, the system calculates a running total of your reported leave hours for the 30-day period leading up to that day. |
If your reported hours do not exceed your Absence Parameters, My FAMLI+ will approve those hours and you will receive benefits. If you see errors when you try to report your absences, you have most likely exceeded the number of leave hours available to you on that day’s look back period. |
My FAMLI+ is looking only at the previous 30 days from each day you report leave hours into the work schedule. Please be aware that the Absence Parameter limit changes every day as leave hours older than 30 days are not included in the calculation. You can not retroactively report more leave hours for time that passed in a previous 30-day period. |
If during your intermittent leave you find that you need more time than your approved Absence Parameters allow, you will need to end your existing claim and file a new one with FAMLI. Contact your health care provider and talk to them about your leave needs, so that they can certify more leave hours on a new Serious Health Condition Form, and you can get started on your new claim as soon as possible. |
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We’ve upgraded our appeals process for employees who want to dispute a FAMLI decision and ask for another review. |
Now all claimants (and their legal representatives) can create an appeals account within My FAMLI+ to file, manage and track all FAMLI-related appeals. |
Remember that claimants must ask for a reconsideration before filing an appeal. Please see our appeals page for more details. |
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Hot topics from the January webinar |
Hundreds of Colorado workers and employers joined us last week for a webinar about how the FAMLI program is working, plus we talked about some exciting upgrades for 2025. |
If you missed it, don’t worry - the entire webinar is available on our Events page for watching on demand. We answered more than 100 viewer questions on everything from eligibility to worker protections when a FAMLI leave ends. Here are some of the highlights: |
Q: Can the Employer require you to apply for FMLA if you apply for FAMLI? |
A: Yes. FMLA runs concurrently with FAMLI when the qualifying reason is also a qualifying reason for FMLA. |
Q: I paid premiums for months but recently became self-employed. Do I have to wait for the next quarter to receive benefits? |
A: No. The wages previously reported for you would be included in your benefit calculation. |
Q: If I opt in today, am I eligible for benefits in May? |
A: If you opt in today and report your wages for 1st quarter 2025 (due April 30, 2025), those wages would be included in your benefit calculation. Elective coverage begins on the date you elect coverage in My FAMLI+ Employer. FAMLI benefit payments are based on wages subject to FAMLI premiums and could be $0 if you apply for benefits before your first premium payment. If you're a new local government employee, or new to self-employment, and you paid premiums under a prior job, you may be eligible for benefits earlier. Read more details about elective coverage.
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We want to hear your personal stories! Please tell us how FAMLI is helping you through a significant life event. Each month we’ll feature real stories in our newsletter, like this response from Doug, who took FAMLI leave while recovering from a rollover car crash: |
“I was surprised I was introduced to this program and even more surprised that I was granted 90% of my weekly pay at work for the duration of my recovery. Finally, a program that is actually helpful to an average person. Thank you.” |
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Your feedback about your FAMLI experience is important to us. Please complete this brief feedback form (2-5 minutes) to help us improve the user experience of My FAMLI+. Your responses will help us improve the online portal for FAMLI claimants and all state residents. |
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FAMLI is now on INSTA! Be sure to follow us and engage with the account at @coloradofamli. And don’t forget, we’re also on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. |
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Colorado Division of Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) 633 17th Street, Denver, CO 80202-3660 Unsubscribe |
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