The University of Colorado recently finalized updates to the Administrative Policy Statement (APS) on Parental Leave in response to Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) coverage, which debuted Jan. 1.

In November, the university released proposed policy updates, received robust employee feedback and responded by making key changes to the final policy. See the newly updated APS by reviewing the “Parental” section of APS 5062 for information on CU’s parental leave eligibility and usage. An FAQ is also available.

Highlights include:

• Increased paid parental leave for staff and 12-month faculty from four weeks to six weeks of 100% compensation, paid between FAMLI, PFML (for classified staff) and paid parental leave (PPL).
  • Employees also will be entitled to six additional weeks of partial salary replacement through FAMLI coverage, which employees can supplement with other CU leave types to receive full pay.
• Eliminated the requirement for nine-month faculty to exhaust their sick leave before taking PPL.
• Removed the one-year of employment requirement, so faculty and staff can use PPL on their first day of employment in an eligible position.

Ways paid parental leave can be used

CU provides eligible university staff and 12-month faculty with 26 weeks of unpaid parental leave, which runs concurrently with FMLA and FAMLI. This leave can be used consecutively, intermittently or on a reduced schedule (example: working four shifts per week and using leave for the fifth shift).

Employees have flexibility in the ways they may be paid during the 26 weeks of parental leave, which is dependent on their vacation and sick leave balances and availability of other leave.

To start, employees should request leave by submitting an application (see instructions). They will then work with an Employee Services leave coordinator to determine their available paid leave options. Until an application is submitted and the employee works with a leave coordinator, all examples are illustrative and not guaranteed.

For example, university staff and 12-month faculty could have parental leave that looks like this:

• Weeks 1-6: The employee receives 100% compensation, paid between FAMLI and PPL.
• Weeks 7-12: FAMLI pays a partial wage, and the employee may choose to use sick and vacation to total 100% of their regular compensation.
• Weeks 13-26: The employee can use their remaining sick and vacation leave to get to 100% of their regular compensation. Once this leave is exhausted, leave without pay begins.

What this means for you

While the university’s APS has been finalized, CU campuses can choose to offer more generous requirements than the minimum outlined in the APS.

Please visit campus PPL pages to learn more about the benefit and eligibility requirements on specific campuses.

• Anschutz Medical Campus
• Boulder
• Colorado Springs
• Denver
• System Administration