Summary
Effective Jan 1, 2026, Colorado offers a new leave type under their CO FAMILI program known as Neonatal Care Leave (Cocoon refers to it as “NICU Leave” for short). A newborn in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is one of the most emotional, exhausting moments a parent can face. This new statute allows parents to take up to 12 additional weeks of paid time off while their newborns are in the NICU, so that:
Parents can be by their baby’s side during critical early days and weeks, and
Still take the full 12 weeks of bonding leave offered by FAMLI after their child is discharged
As with other leaves under Colorado’s FAMLI program, employees must apply and be approved for NICU leave by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
How will taking NICU leave impact an employee’s paid and unpaid leave benefits?
Taking NICU leave might increase the total amount of time off an employee can take from work, but it might also change the amount of money you receive during those periods. This is because Colorado NICU leaves potentially overlap with leave benefits under the federal Family and Medical Leave (FMLA), other Colorado FAMLI leaves, and company parental leave policies.
Before applying for Colorado NICU leave, employees should try their best to understand whether and how the NICU leave program works and interplays with other leave benefits. The answer likely depends on a number of factors including:
Their eligibility for and past FMLA and CO FAMLI leave usage
Your company’s FMLA and parental leave policies
Their status as a birthing or non-birthing parent
Their need for continuous or intermittent leave
Their prioritization of time away from work or full or partial paid leave
If the employee decides to seek NICU leave and have already applied for and been approved for parental leave in Cocoon or applied for paid leave benefits from Colorado’s FAMLI or your company’s Short Term Disability (STD) program, they may need to update those benefit elections and programs and those benefits might change.
This may sound like a lot of moving parts but, don’t worry, Cocoon is here to support your team.
What is NICU leave and when would it be taken?
The Colorado NICU leave program allows you to apply to Colorado FAMLI for up to 12 additional weeks of paid leave. NICU leave is only available while a newborn is in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. If you apply and are approved for Colorado FAMLI NICU leave, you can still take 12 weeks of paid bonding leave (and potentially 16 weeks of paid bonding leave if you are birthing parent and experienced complications during pregnancy or childbirth) under FAMLI after their child is discharged from NICU.
Would my NICU leave still be considered a parental leave?
It depends on the specific leave benefit they are accessing.
Under Colorado FAMLI, the answer is “no.” Colorado FAMLI administers NICU leave as a paid leave benefit that is separate from parental bonding leaves under Colorado FAMLI.
Under federal FMLA and your company’s parental leave policy, the answer is likely “yes” but if you are seeking leave intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule, you will need to review your employer’s parental leave policy. FMLA and parental leave policies may not permit you to take NICU leave intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule. If that’s the case, you might still be able to take NICU leave as a caregiver leave, which generally allows employees to take leave intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule.
Would my taking NICU leave extend the total duration of an employee’s leave?
It likely would. However, some or all of the extended leave period might be paid differently than other periods of their leave. For example:
If they were taking parental leave and are a non-birthing parent, they would ordinarily be entitled to job-protected leave for the period available to you under federal FMLA, Colorado FAMLI leave and your parental leave policy. So they would want to confirm in Cocoon how much leave that would be. In addition to that amount of leave, the employee would be able to take a separate period of NICU leave under Colorado FAMLI leave.
Explained a little differently, depending on the timing of the NICU leave, the employee’s NICU leave could run concurrently with FMLA and your parental leave policy; however, it would not run concurrently with any other period of Colorado NICU leave. In most cases, taking NICU leave should extend the amount of Colorado FAMLI leave they can receive.
It can be complicated to follow and calculate, but remember that the amount of and sources of their pay may differ or change during a leave that includes both periods of NICU and parental bonding leave.
Will taking NICU leave change the sources of employee’s pay during leave?
As noted above, it might. The answer could also depend on whether you are a birthing or non-birthing parent and whether they decide to change their parental leave to a caregiver leave in Cocoon. For example:
If they are taking parental leave and are a non-birthing parent: their pay would ordinarily come from a combination of paid Colorado FAMLI leave and employer paid parental bonding leave benefits.
If they are taking parental leave and are a birthing parent: their pay would ordinarily come from a combination of paid Colorado FAMLI leave, private short term disability (STD), and employer paid parental bonding leave benefits. Ordinarily, an STD benefit is reduced by the amount of state paid leave benefits, but that might not be the case if you are taking NICU leave and receiving Colorado FAMLI leave benefits during the same period that you are receiving STD benefits for childbirth disability. If they receive unreduced STD benefits and Colorado FAMLI NICU benefits, it could also impact whether and how much the employer will be paid under your parental leave policy.
If they decide to take some or all of their NICU leave as a caregiver leave instead of a parental leave: this could impact the paid leave benefits that they are entitled to receive under your company’s leave policies or an STD benefit.
If they apply for NICU leave under Colorado FAMLI and continue to seek parental leave in Cocoon: Cocoon will continue to administer the parental leave as usual unless and until the employee provides Cocoon confirmation of any FAMLI and STD benefits that they receive. If the FAMLI or STD benefit verification requires adjustments to employer-provided leave pay that they have or will receive, Cocoon will make necessary adjustments to any remaining employer paid leave payments. Depending on the timing of their benefit verification and any pay adjustments, you may need to work with the employee to recover any overpayments made during the leave.
If they need NICU leave intermittently and choose to take caregiver leave instead of parental leave: Cocoon will help the employee submit an updated leave plan in Cocoon. If they are no longer eligible for top-up pay under your company’s caregiver leave policy, the employee would likely only receive pay during the NICU leave from Colorado FAMLI.
How do employees request NICU leave in Cocoon?
All employees planning and taking parental leave in Colorado will see the following screen in Cocoon alerting them of their options under Colorado’s NICU leave program:
After they finish evaluating their leave options and determine how and when they want to take NICU leave, employees can simply notify Cocoon via email that they want to take NICU leave. Cocoon’s Support Team will then guide the employee through designing a parental or caregiver leave best aligned with their NICU leave needs and goals. They will map out the following options:
For employees with already filed parental leave plans
Option 1: Continue to request a parental leave without a designated NICU leave:
Employee would maintain their current parental leave with no changes to current STD and/or CO FAMLI applications
Option 2: Update parental leave plan to request a parental leave with a designated NICU leave leg at the beginning of your parental leave:
Employee would need Cocoon’s manual assistance to initiate this change because they cannot currently request or model this leave design directly in Cocoon’s platform.
Option 3: Submit a new caregiver leave and update your parental leave plan:
Employee would submit a new caregiver leave request for the dates you are seeking NICU leave including the frequency for which you are seeking leave.
Employee would change dates and/or frequency of requested parental leave in Cocoon to address periods of parental bonding and/or childbirth disability that begin after the end of caregiver leave for NICU leave.
For employees with no leave plan submitted
Option 1: Request a parental leave without a designated NICU leave
Employee would apply for a parental leave as you normally would in Cocoon’s platform and not apply for NICU leave under Colorado’s FAMLI program.
Option 2: Request a parental leave with a designated NICU leave leg at the beginning of their parental leave
Employee would need Cocoon’s manual assistance to request this leave because you cannot currently request or model this leave design directly in Cocoon’s platform.
Option 3: Request a caregiver leave and parental leave
Employee would submit a caregiver leave request for the dates you are seeking NICU leave including the frequency for which you are seeking leave.
Employee would request parental leave in Cocoon for periods of parental bonding and/or childbirth disability that begin after the end of caregiver leave for NICU leave.
As always, employees can also plan a call to go over these options live with their dedicated Support Team member.