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What would it cost to let caregivers ask?

Writer: Mark Fukae
Mark Fukae
1 day ago
2 min read

A stylized Memphis-inspired graphic on a teal background. On the right, a large yellow circle contains the main headline text in teal: "What would it cost to let caregivers ask?". To the left, a tilted square photograph inset shows a warm-lit workspace desk at twilight, with reading glasses resting on open notes or a calendar, next to a window view of dark trees and buildings. A smaller yellow circle overlaps the photo. Decorative purple scribbles and teal outlines are scattered throughout. Large lime green quotation marks are positioned on the right, framing the headline. Below the visual elements, small white text quotes: "The cost would be measured by the number of disputes, not by the number of caregivers." In the bottom right corner, a circular white logo with a line-art family of three (parent holding child) and the text "Professionals Who Care" inside the circle.
What would it truly cost to give caregivers the voice and support they need? It's time for a direct discussion on caregiving infrastructure and its real-world costs.

By Mark Fukae - Director of Advocacy | Professionals Who Care


Most working caregivers know the feeling: you need a different schedule, or a few days at home, and you aren't sure it's safe to ask. Many don't. They come in late, leave early, use their sick days, and don't explain.


In Colorado, there's no state law that gives a working caregiver a right to ask. The Center for WorkLife Law counted more than 250 state and local governments with some caregiver protection as of 2023. Colorado's entry reads "No state law."


I've drafted two bills meant to change that in two steps. The first, the FLEX Act, aimed at the 2027 legislative session, would give employed caregivers a right to request a flexible arrangement and receive a written answer within set timelines. The employer could still say no for a real business reason, and asking couldn't be punished. It would create no new leave. The second, the CARE Act, planned for later sessions, would add caregiver status to Colorado's anti-discrimination law.


Every bill faces the question of cost, so I looked at the closest precedents. When Colorado passed its paid sick leave law in 2020, legislative staff estimated enforcement at about $298,000 and 3.5 staff a year, based on about 480 complaints. Vermont has had a right-to-request law since 2014; the law that created it had no appropriation. The United Kingdom's 2024 impact assessment did not count the cost of granting requests, calling those costs discretionary. The FLEX Act asks more than Vermont's law does, and I'm not claiming it would be free. Its cost would depend mostly on how many disputes it creates.


For employers and HR professionals in our community, the part that may matter most is the record. Under FLEX, employers would keep their written acknowledgments and decisions for three years, and the state would report on what kinds of requests are made and why they're denied. That would give Colorado something it doesn't have today: a picture of what working caregivers actually ask for.


If you work and care for someone in Colorado, the Caring Costs Survey at casiadvocacy.org/research is where your experience gets recorded.


 
 
 

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