While the United States remains one of the few developed countries without a federal mandate requiring employers to provide paid maternity leave, many states have stepped up to fill that gap. Just as employer leave policies have expanded in recent years to account for a range of families and circumstances, state laws are also diversifying.

Starting next month, Colorado will become the first state to require employers to provide paid leave to parents with a child in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. And next summer, a similar, yet less expansive, measure will go into effect in Illinois.

It’s welcome news to many working parents in those states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 10% of babies born in America will be admitted to the NICU—a rate that has grown in recent years. The CDC found that NICU admission rates jumped 13% between 2016-23, particularly among non-white patients.

What the NICU leave laws say

Under Colorado’s new Neonatal Care Leave measure, which amended the state’s existing Family and Medical Leave Insurance program that applies to most private employers in the state, employees can take up to 12 weeks of paid leave during the child’s hospitalization. This is in addition to the 12 weeks guaranteed to employees under FAMLI; birthing parents who underwent complications can claim an additional four weeks.

Illinois’ policy isn’t as broad; employers with more than 50 employees have to provide up to 20 days of unpaid leave, while smaller organizations must give 10 days.

Apart from job protection, the laws also prohibit retaliation.

Prior to these laws, and in all other states, working parents whose babies are admitted to the NICU largely must turn to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which provides up to 12 weeks of job protection during an unpaid leave so employees can tend to family and health issues. Some employees in Colorado would also be eligible for FMLA, meaning they could potentially access up to 40 weeks of leave, writes Dana Dobbins, an associate at law firm Holland & Hart, in a blog post on the firm’s website.

Dobbins advises employers operating in Colorado to evaluate company handbooks and policies in order to ensure compliance.

“Remember, it is not enough to simply have a paid parental leave policy in place­,” she says. “If the employer provides its own parental leave, the policy must clarify that the employer’s paid leave benefit runs concurrently with FAMLI and FMLA leave, not in addition to those leaves.”

A growing trend?

Architects of Colorado’s NICU leave law cite consistent research that ties parental involvement to better outcomes for babies who are hospitalized after birth. For instance, skin-to-skin contact, known as “kangaroo care,” has been shown to impact babies’ heart rates, breathing, temperature and more.

“When parents can take paid leave for the arrival of a vulnerable baby, infant health improves,” they wrote on the FAMLI program’s website.

Supporting NICU parents, they say, isn’t only the right thing to do for employees, but for the business as well. According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, researchers found a correlation between paid leave and job stability.

“Healthy families and healthy workplaces aren’t separate goals; they reinforce each other,” program advocates say. “Supporting families is good for business, good for babies and good for the future we’re all building together.”

The new NICU leave law, they say, is addressing a “major gap in the national paid leave landscape” that may become a bellwether for states and employees looking to be on the leading edge.

Colorado’s law could set the stage for similar measures in other jurisdictions, says Brice Caswell of risk and benefits administration firm Sedgwick.

“This move is a powerful recognition of the emotional and logistical challenges families face during NICU stays, and it’s marking the beginning of a broader trend,” he says.

Yet, he acknowledges, the measure does throw a “compliance curveball” at organizations operating in Colorado.

“Even if other states don’t join the trend,” he says, “multi-state employers must still adapt their policies and systems to accommodate neonatal care leave.”