The university is notifying faculty and staff of a new program called FAMLI, which stands for the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program. It creates a new program for paid leave for Colorado employees. The leave program was approved by voters in 2020 as Proposition 118.

State employers, including Colorado State University, are required to implement a payroll tax on each employee’s wages in January to fund the new paid leave for employees. The university is also required to pay half of the cost of the leave program. The payroll tax begins January 2023, and the option for employees to take leave through the program begins in January 2024.

The university has not received additional funding to meet the costs of this leave program.

However, to mitigate impact to our employees CSU is paying both the employee’s portion and the university’s portion of the tax during the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2023.

This means that employees will not see any of their portion of the tax deducted from their paychecks through June 30. The university will pay its half of the program cost plus the employee cost (including the cost of all university employees who live in Colorado) – which totals $2.6 million – for the first six months of the program.

The CSU System office will work with state policymakers to request new funding for these costs beyond June 30. The CSU System office hopes to achieve financial support for CSU employees.

FAMLI allows the university and other employers to substitute a private plan that offers the same or better benefits and protections as the state’s FAMLI program.

Any plan must be reviewed and approved by the state’s FAMLI Division before it takes effect. The university will evaluate all options available under the law to maintain a high level of leave program benefits already provided by the university.

This FAMLI leave FAQ provides more information about FAMLI leave. Those who have questions can contact Human Resources.