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One to Keep An Eye On: Family Medical Leave Insurance Program (Colorado)


As with many employment and labor law related cases (and bills) being litigated around the country, there are always a few that stand out.  This is one to keep an eye on.


Colorado sure has been busy this legislative session, hasn't it?  With Democrats regaining control of the State Legislature after about 4 years as the minority party, I suppose it should not be overly surprising that Democrats are aggressively pushing several pieces of legislation that cater to its base.  Readers might recall that in February, the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act which seeks to prohibit employers in the state from discriminating between employees on the basis of sex (or on the basis of sex in combination with another protected status) by paying an employee of one sex a wage rate less than the wage rate paid to an employee of a different sex for substantially similar work. 

As for Senate Bill 19-188, the Family Medical Leave Insurance Program, this piece of legislation seeks to provide partial wage replacement benefits to an eligible employee who takes leave from work to care for a new child or family member with a serious health condition, because the employee is unable to work because of his/her own serious health condition, because the employee or a family member is a victim of abusive behavior, or due to certain needs arising from a family member's active duty service.

The legislation proposes that each employee and employer in the state would pay 1/2 the cost of a premium, with the specific premium based on a percentage of the employee's yearly wages.  The premiums would be deposited into the family and medical leave insurance fund and the family and medical leave benefits would then be paid to eligible individuals from that fund.

While this legislation was a major campaign point among Democrats in the state, it is currently tied up in the Colorado Senate Finance Committee while the exact amount of how much employers should contribute (and whether businesses and local governments with similar programs can opt out) is sorted out.  From reports, the Finance Committee will consider Senate Bill 19-188 again this month.


For a copy of Senate Bill 19-188:  https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2019A/bills/2019a_188_01.pdf

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