FMLA Expansion in Colorado

March 26, 2013

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, commonly known as the FMLA, has received a lot of recent attention from politicians, employers, and lobbyists in Colorado. All eligible employers should be familiar with this twenty-year-old law; now Colorado House Bill 13-1222 has thrust it back in to the spotlight. How does this state bill expand the FMLA and why did Colorado employers originally oppose it?

The FMLA currently requires all eligible employers to allow eligible employees 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period “to attend to the serious health condition of the employee, parent, spouse or child, or for pregnancy or care of a newborn child, or for adoption or foster care of a child.” House Bill 13-1222 would have greatly expanded that list to include an employee’s adult children, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and civil union partners or domestic partners. Along with this expansion, the bill would have allowed an employee to take another 12 work weeks of unpaid leave under the federal law in addition to the 12 weeks allowed by the state law if an immediate family member required assistance after an extended family member, potentially leading to 24 total weeks of unpaid leave per employee.

The state’s business community launched a campaign opposing the bill, fearing it would further restrict worker productivity and cause logistical difficulties for employers. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Cherilyn Peniston, D-Westminster, curtailed the list of newly eligible parties to just civil union partners and domestic partners. An amendment to the bill was also added to retire the state law if the FMLA is ever expanded to include civil union and domestic partnerships, thereby rendering the state expansion redundant and the 24 month technicality unnecessary. The business community rescinded their opposition and on March 22nd the bill received preliminary approval from the Colorado House of Representatives.