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…