Denver tightens eligibility for paid leave program; "There were too many people using it" asserts council member

Denver's Career Service Board has tightened up eligibility rules for a popular paid leave program for Denver city employees known as "Care Bank," leading one Denver City Council member, Flor Alvidrez, to criticize the changes.

 "I think it's unfair to put in this policy all of a sudden," Alvidrez said.

The Care Bank program went into effect in Denver in 2024, allowing city workers to take up to eight weeks of paid leave for a variety of reasons including personal health issues, caring for a child, or caring for a family member with a serious health condition. The program cost nothing for city employees, pays them 100% of their salary, and turned out to be extremely popular -- so popular that in the Denver paramedic division, leave usage in 2024 shot up 334%, necessitating overtime payments to employees to fill positions vacated by other employees utilizing the paid leave program. This year, the city estimates Care Bank usage will be even higher than last year, with 2,484 city employees taking the paid leave -- that's about one quarter of the entire city workforce.

"I thought it was a great program," said Alvidrez.

But last week, Denver's Career Service Board voted unanimously to make changes to the program, saying the modifications were an effort to "streamline" the program and have it align with similar federal programs.

Alvidrez said she believes the city made the recent changes due to a different motivation.

"I do think from the city perspective there were too many people using it," she said.

Denver's Human Resources agency, which pushed for the Care Bank benefit, initially lauded the Care Bank generosity, noting that it was more generous than similar federal and state programs that may not pay workers taking leave, or may have caps on how much of their salaries' workers can earn while taking leave.

Previously, city workers who were still on probation could receive the paid Denver Care Bank leave. But one of the new changes says workers have to have been with the city at least a year to use the Care Bank hours. The new rules also say grandparents will no longer be considered family members when it comes to employees using Care Bank hours to care for family.

Theresa Marchetta, a spokesperson for Denver's Office of Human Resources, said there were "a few modifications ... But they do not change the benefit employees receive."

Marchetta said the recent changes "only provide clarity."

Alvidrez said she sees it differently.

"Right now we are looking at budget cuts," said Alvidrez, "and where can we scale back money, so it's probably a strategy to help save the city money."

Alvidrez said after Denver laid off 169 employees last week in a budget cutting move, she said tightening eligibility requirements for the Care Bank program was another blow for city workers.

"Morale is at an all-time low. Employees are terrified," she said. "I think that city workers feel very underappreciated."