Articles About New Mexico Labor And Employment Law.

On April 7, 2021, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 20, enacting the Healthy Workplaces Act (HWA), which will require private employers in New Mexico with at least one employee to provide paid sick leave to employees. The new law becomes effective on July 1, 2022.

On April 12, 2021, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed two bills into law, legalizing the use and possession of recreational cannabis and allowing for the expungement of certain cannabis-related criminal records.  With this development, New Mexico joins many other states that have legalized recreational cannabis for adults

2021 has brought a flurry of activity surrounding marijuana laws, particularly recreational marijuana use. The number of states approving recreational marijuana continues to grow.

New Mexico

On April 12, 2021, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the state’s recreational marijuana bill. The New Mexico recreational marijuana law will take

On April 8, 2021, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law House Bill 20, the Healthy Workplaces Act (HWA). This law, effective July 1, 2022, will require all private employers to provide paid leave to employees that they can use for sick time, safe time, or other

Beginning on July 1, 2022, New Mexico will join 15 other states (and Washington, D.C.) in requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave to their employees.

In addition to other measures New Mexico is taking to try to control the coronavirus pandemic, effective August 5, 2020, the Occupational Health and Safety Bureau of the New Mexico Environment Department (NM OSHA) implemented an emergency amendment to its injury and illness reporting regulation, 11 NMAC §5.1.16.

On January 16, 2020, the New Mexico Supreme Court issued its decision in Mendoza v. Isleta Resort and Casino, holding that a tribe does not waive its sovereign immunity to workers’ compensation claims merely by committing in a tribal gaming compact1 to establish a workers’ compensation program. Tribal employers that negotiate gaming compacts will find this case of interest.

On October 15, 2019, the Bernalillo County, New Mexico Commissioners voted to amend their mandatory paid time off (PTO) ordinance, enacted only two months earlier. As we previously reported, the ordinance will require certain employers with a physical premise in the county’s unincorporated limits to provide PTO that employees can use for any reason beginning July 1, 2020.

On August 20, 2019, the Bernalillo County, New Mexico Commissioners enacted the “Employee Wellness Act,” which, though originally styled as a paid sick leave law, as amended requires covered employers to provide paid time off (PTO) that employees can use for any reason. The ordinance, effective July 1, 2020, becomes the first generally applicable local mandatory PTO law, continuing a trend recently created at the state level in Maine and Nevada.

The patchwork of paid leave laws around the country is getting increasingly more intricate as local governments adopt mandatory paid time off laws. This week, Bernalillo County, New Mexico added its patch adopting the first paid time off ordinance in New Mexico. Beginning on July 1, 2020, the Employee Wellness Act will require employers within the unincorporated limits of Bernalillo County to permit most employees to accrue paid time off and use that paid time off for any reason. While the ordinance was originally considered earlier this summer as a more traditional paid sick leave law, it was amended to allow for employees to use the time off for “any reason.” The County is following what looks to be a trend started by Maine and Nevada which both passed laws this summer allowing employees to use mandatory accrued paid time off for any reason.

Executive Summary: On April 3, 2019, New Mexico expanded the state’s “Ban the Box” law to include private employers. “Ban the Box” is a nationwide effort to eliminate the checkbox on employment applications inquiring into applicants’ criminal history. Over the last few years, thirty-four states have joined the movement to “Ban the Box.” Among these states, twelve – California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington – as well as the District of Columbia have passed Ban the Box laws for private employers. In a press release, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said “[i]t is our responsibility to ensure that we create a pathway for individuals to contribute to our economy and to our communities.” This seems to be the consensus among more than 150 cities which have also enacted their own version of Ban the Box laws.

New Mexico is the latest state to adopt statewide legislation prohibiting private employers from making inquiries into an applicant’s criminal history on the initial employment application. The state also enacted legislation prohibiting employers from asking applicants for information about a criminal record that has been sealed or expunged.

New Mexico’s state legislature has been busy over the past few weeks acting on bills introduced earlier this year. The state has enacted at least nine new laws affecting employers, covering many topics from health care access and medical marijuana, to criminal background checks. Unless otherwise noted, these new provisions take effect on June 14, 2019, leaving New Mexico employers just a few months to prepare for compliance.

The New Mexico medical marijuana law has been amended to provide employment protections to employees and applicants. The amendments were signed into law by the governor on April 4, 2019.

On April 1, 2019, New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham (D) signed Senate Bill (SB) 437, which amends the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act (MWA) by increasing the state minimum wage, increasing the minimum cash wage for tipped employees, and revising tip pool standards.