Your guide to NICU Leave in Colorado
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, you must apply and be approved for NICU leave by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
How will taking NICU leave impact my paid and unpaid leave benefits?
Taking NICU leave might increase the total amount of time off you 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, you should try your 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:
Your eligibility for and past FMLA and CO FAMLI leave usage
Your company’s FMLA and parental leave policies
Your status as a birthing or non-birthing parent
Your need for continuous or intermittent leave
Your prioritization of time away from work or full or partial paid leave
If you decide to seek NICU leave and you 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, you 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 you.
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 your newborn is in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. If you apply and are approved for Colorado FAMLI NICU leave, you can still take your 12 weeks of paid bonding leave (and potentially 16 weeks of paid bonding leave if you are birthing parent and experienced complications during your pregnancy or childbirth) under FAMLI after your child is discharged from NICU.
Would my NICU leave still be considered a parental leave?
It depends on the specific leave benefit you 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 FMLA and parental leave policy. Your employer’s 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 my leave?
It likely would. However, some or all of the extended leave period might be paid differently than other periods of your leave. For example:
If you were taking parental leave and are a non-birthing parent, you would ordinarily be entitled to job-protected leave for the period available to you under federal FMLA, Colorado FAMLI leave and your employer’s parental leave policy. So you would want to confirm in Cocoon how much leave that would be. In addition to that amount of leave, you would be able to take a separate period of NICU leave under Colorado FAMLI leave.
Explained a little differently, depending on the timing of your NICU leave, your NICU leave could run concurrently with your FMLA and employer parental leave policy; however, it would not run concurrently with any other period of Colorado NICU leave. Although you have to run the models once you know when and how you want to take NICU leave to identify the likely total amount of leave you can take, taking NICU leave should extend the amount of Colorado FAMLI leave you can receive.
It can be complicated to follow and calculate, but remember that the amount of and sources of your 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 my 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 you decide to change your parental leave to a caregiver leave in Cocoon. You have several options, including the following:
If you were taking parental leave and are a non-birthing parent: your pay would ordinarily come from a combination of paid Colorado FAMLI leave and employer paid parental bonding leave benefits. However, if you needed NICU leave intermittently and you chose to take caregiver leave in Cocoon and you no longer had access to your company’s paid parental leave benefits and your company offer less or no paid caregiver leave, you would likely only receive pay during your NICU leave from Colorado FAMLI.
If you were taking parental leave and are a birthing parent: your 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 you receive unreduced STD benefits and Colorado FAMLI NICU benefits, it could also impact whether and how much your employer will pay you under its parental leave policy.
If you decide to take some or all of your NICU leave as a caregiver leave instead of a parental leave: this could impact the paid leave benefits that you are entitled to receive under your employer’s leave policies or an STD benefit.
If you apply for NICU leave under Colorado FAMLI and continue to seek parental leave in Cocoon: Cocoon will continue to administer your parental leave as usual unless and until you provide Cocoon confirmation of any FAMLI and STD benefits that you receive. If your FAMLI or STD benefit verification requires adjustments to employer-provided leave pay that you have or will receive, Cocoon will make necessary adjustments to any remaining employer paid leave payments. Depending on the timing of your benefit verification and any pay adjustments, your employer may need to work with you to recover any overpayments it made during your leave.
If you needed NICU leave intermittently and choose to take caregiver leave instead of parental leave: Cocoon will help you submit an updated leave plan and you will be able in Cocoon and you no longer had access to your company’s paid parental leave benefits and your company offer less or no paid caregiver leave, you would likely only receive pay during your NICU leave from Colorado FAMLI.
How do I request NICU leave in Cocoon?
After you finish evaluating your leave options and determine how and when you want to take NICU leave, simply email [email protected] that you want to take NICU leave:
Please use the subject line “Request for CO NICU Leave”
Include your requested leave dates
Our team will walk you through your options (outlined above) and help you design a parental or caregiver leave best aligned with your NICU leave needs and goals. As always, you can also plan a call to go over these options live with your dedicated Support Team member by clicking the “Contact us” button in your Cocoon Dashboard.