Most Colorado employees become eligible to take paid leave after they have earned at least $2,500 in wages within the state over a period of a year. You don’t need to have a minimum number of days working for REI to be eligible to receive benefits. The Colorado Paid Family and Medical Leave division will look back at the previous five quarters of wages to determine your benefit eligibility.

FAMLI leave can be used to take time away from work for the following reasons:

• Care for a new child, including adopted and fostered children.
• Care for yourself if you have a serious health condition.
• Care for a family member’s serious health condition.
• To make arrangements for a family member’s military deployment.
• To address the immediate safety needs and impact of domestic violence and/or sexual assault.

Most employees are eligible to receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave. Those who experience pregnancy or childbirth complications may receive an additional four weeks of leave.

FAMLI wage replacement benefits will be paid at a rate of 90% of your average weekly wage. The Colorado Paid Family and Medical Leave division will look back at the previous five quarters of wages to determine your benefit eligibility. Benefits are calculated on a sliding scale using your average weekly wage for the state of Colorado. This may increase over time. You can view the state’s average weekly wage and estimate your potential benefits by using this calculator.

If you’re eligible for REI’s disability programs (Short-Term Disability or salary continuation), you’ll receive disability pay from REI, which will be offset (reduced) by the amount you’re expected to receive from FAMLI benefits. This means that a portion of pay will be issued through REI payroll and the other directly through FAMLI.

You can open a planned FAMLI leave 30 days prior to the first date of the absence and up to 30 days after an absence by using the FAMLI Claimants Portal. The FAMLI system is expected to be live in December of 2023 and eligible individuals can start receiving benefits in 2024. Please see the Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance program website for additional information.

In addition to filing for FAMLI leave through My FAMLI+, you will also need to file your leave of absence with Lincoln Financial by calling the Health Guide at 1-800-451-2967 or visiting mylincolnportal.com.

The documents needed will vary depending on the reason for your leave. Please review the Colorado Family and Medical Leave Insurance program website for additional information. For all reasons an individual applies for FAMLI leave, the division may request additional reasonable information or documentation necessary (outside of what’s asked for in My FAMLI+) to adjudicate the claim.

Parental (bonding leave): You will need to upload proof of birth or placement, which may include:

• A birth certificate, or application for a birth certificate.
• Birth or recovery care documentation from a health care provider or medical facility.
• Adoption or foster care placement paperwork.

Medical leave to care for yourself:

• Serious Health Condition form: When applying for medical leave, your licensed health care provider must fill out and sign your serious health condition form. You must start the claim filing process in My FAMLI+ to download a form that is unique to you. If your doctor is already registered in the system, they’ll be able to certify your claim online.

Medical leave to care for a family member:

• Serious Health Condition form: When applying for medical leave to care for a family member, you must provide the details of the licensed health care provider who is treating your family member. That health care provider must fill out and sign a serious health condition form on behalf of your family member. If the provider is already registered in the system, they’ll be able to certify the claim online. If not, you’ll need to download a serious health condition form while filing your claim in My FAMLI+ and get it completed by your family member’s provider.

Military family members (exigency) leave:

• Proof of the service member’s active-duty service.

Safe leave (domestic violence): FAMLI recognizes that many cases of safe leave go unreported. Here are a few things to know when filing a claim for safe leave.

• To determine whether an individual is the survivor of domestic violence, the survivor of stalking, or the survivor of sexual assault or abuse, for purposes of determining eligibility for safe leave, an individual need not prove that a court has determined that the individual was the victim of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault, or sexual abuse.
• Benefits may be awarded and will require the individual’s good faith, legal attestation that they are a survivor of domestic violence, stalking, or sexual assault or abuse.