As state paid family leave programs proliferate, navigating the myriad of different laws is becoming even more challenging for employers. This is especially true in Oregon where the state’s paid family leave program just came online in September 2023, and in Colorado where the state’s paid family leave program comes online at the start of 2024. The Oregon and Colorado mandates, especially when combined with the complicated patchwork of other state and local paid family leave laws, present operational and compliance challenges, with no one-size-fits-all solution. Understanding the statutory requirements and the impact of new leave laws on the administration of employee leave management is critical.

In this session, we reviewed the Oregon and Colorado paid family leave programs, how they compare to one another and other state paid family leave programs on core substantive topics, including private plan standards, and offered insights into managing the complexities of compliance.