Why You Should Sign - No Matter Where You Live

Six states have already proven this works.

Alaska, Delaware, Minnesota, New York, Illinois, and Maine have all passed laws protecting working caregivers from workplace discrimination. Over 200 municipalities - including New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. - have done the same at the local level.

Colorado is next. And when Colorado passes the CARE Act, it doesn't just protect 600,000 Coloradans - it hands every other state a tested, fiscally proven blueprint and pushes the national conversation one state closer to a federal solution.

Your signature - wherever you live - tells lawmakers that the time is now.

The Crisis Affecting 63 Million Americans

More than 63 million Americans provide unpaid care for a loved one. A parent with dementia. A child with a disability. A spouse recovering from a serious illness. This labor is valued at $600 billion annually - yet caregivers have almost no legal protection, no guaranteed right to request workplace accommodations, and no recognition under federal civil rights law.

The consequences are severe and measurable:

• $44 billion in annual losses for employers from absenteeism, turnover, and lost productivity
• 70% higher likelihood of job loss for employees with caregiving responsibilities
• $7,200 in average out-of-pocket costs per caregiver each year - roughly 26% of their income
• Disproportionate harm to women (who make up 60% of caregivers), communities of color, and disabled Americans who depend on home-based care to avoid institutionalization

I know this personally. I am a full-time employee caring for my mother, who has lived with my family since 2016 and was diagnosed with dementia in 2019. In 2024, after two years of documented remote work arrangements, my workplace accommodations were revoked by a blanket return-to-office mandate. HR's response: "We all have family obligations, but we need to suck it up."

There is currently no law in Colorado - or at the federal level - that would have protected me. The CARE Act changes that.

What the Colorado CARE Act Does

The Colorado CARE Act (Caregiver Accommodations and Rights Enhancement Act) modernizes the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) to explicitly protect working caregivers. It would:

• Add family caregiver status as a protected class under CADA - making it illegal to fire, demote, or refuse to hire someone simply because they have caregiving responsibilities
• Establish a right to request reasonable workplace accommodations - such as schedule flexibility, adjusted hours, or temporary remote work - through an interactive process, without fear of retaliation
• Create a rebuttable presumption for remote work in remote-eligible positions, requiring employers to provide a written explanation if denied
• Prohibit "creative dismissal" - the pattern of restructuring, reassigning, or constructively terminating employees whose caregiving responsibilities have become inconvenient to an employer

What it does NOT require:

• No guaranteed paid leave
• No exemption from performance standards
• No automatic approval of all requests
• No new taxes, fees, or state appropriations - fully TABOR-compliant

The Numbers That Make This Easy to Support

For Colorado employers: Projected annual savings of $17.4M–$69.4M from reduced employee turnover — because caregivers who can get reasonable accommodations don't quit.

For Colorado's Medicaid budget: Estimated $9–18 million in annual savings by keeping people out of nursing facilities. Home-based care costs $15,000–$25,000 per year. Nursing facility care costs $75,000–$120,000. Caregivers are the bridge that keeps people home.

For the state: Zero new appropriations required. Implementation absorbed within existing Colorado Civil Rights Division operations.

This Is How National Change Happens

The Family and Medical Leave Act. The Americans with Disabilities Act. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Every major workplace protection in American history started as a state experiment before it became national law.

Six states have already passed caregiver workplace protections. A federal framework - the Federal CARE Act - is being advanced in national conversations and is projected to generate a net positive fiscal impact of $5.3 billion over 10 years through reduced federal program costs.

Colorado passing the CARE Act tells Congress and every remaining state legislature: this works, it saves money, voters support it, and there is no excuse left to wait.

Who I Am

I am a working caregiver, the founder of CASI (Caregiver Advocacy Support Initiative), a registered Colorado volunteer lobbyist, and a stakeholder on Colorado's Medicaid Commission. I am developing the Colorado CARE Act for the 2027 legislative session and working with advocates in multiple states as this model spreads nationally.

But this movement is bigger than me. It belongs to every caregiver who has been told to "suck it up." Every disabled person who wants to remain at home. Every employer who has lost a good employee they could have kept with a simple schedule adjustment. Every family that has had to choose between a loved one and a paycheck.

Sign If You Believe:

• Caregivers shouldn't lose their jobs for showing up for their families
• Workers deserve the right to ask for flexibility without punishment
• States should lead when the federal government moves too slowly
• A proven model from six states is enough evidence to act

You don't need to live in Colorado to sign. You don't need to be a caregiver to care about this. You only need to believe that families deserve support, not punishment.

Sign. Share. Stand with 63 million American caregivers.

→ Learn more: CASIadvocacy.org → Sign the petition: change.org/p/the-care-act-a-smart-investment-for-working-caregivers-in-america-colorado