DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado voters approved Proposition 118, The Associated Press reports.
The proposition will establish a program for paid family and medical leave statewide.
Employers will match employees’ contribution of .45% of their salary for a combined 0.9% contribution into the program.
The proposition allows employers who offer private insurance or those with fewer than 10 employees to be exempt from the program.
Right now, Colorado follows the Family Medical Leave Act for employers with 50 or more workers. State lawmakers also passed a measure earlier this year for six days of sick leave for workers at businesses with more than 16 people. That law takes effect in January.
Those who opposed 118 say an extended leave now would do more harm than good for employees in the long run but advocates stressed the importance of family.
“This would give you back the most valuable thing in the world: time,” April Kimbrough told FOX31 in October.
Kimbrough’s world was rocked this year when she found out her son was diagnosed with renal medullary carcinoma, a rare kidney cancer with a grave prognosis. To make matters worse, he is 1,400 miles away in Atlanta. Kimbrough works in Denver and received little support from her managers when she wanted to go check on him.
“When my son was diagnosed and I got the word and I took my flight over, I had a voicemail saying, ‘When are you returning back to work?’ The entire time I was setting up his chemotherapy and such, it was ‘When are you returning?’ Even though I was working remotely, you’re supposed to be physically here,” Kimbrough said.
Opponents believe the proposition’s layout will lead to problems for Colorado over time.
“The way it’s proposed, through the ballot initiative, is not sustainable. This tax, the more people that use the program, the more expensive it becomes. That’s the dilemma, really, that proponents have right now,” Loren Furman of the Colorado Chamber of Commerce said last month. “They want a very Cadillac program but that means the more people that use it, the more the tax will have to be increased to pay for it.”