New Mexico PAID Sick Leave

New Mexico Workers Entitled to PAID Sick Leave

Effective on July 1, 2022, all workers in New Mexico are now legally entitled to PAID sick leave. See media report here. Many employers provide paid sick leave, but many New Mexico employers do not. In particular, those on the lower end of the pay spectrum — hourly workers — often do not receive paid sick leave. That has now been changed by a new law called the New Mexico Healthy Workplaces Act of 2021 (“NMHWA”). According to the media report, over 300,000 workers will now have paid leave that they did not have before.

The New Mexico Healthy Workplaces Act is modeled after similar laws enacted in other States (e.g. Colorado) intended to protect New Mexico workers and give them time for medical and family care. If your New Mexico employer has not provided you notice of the new law and/or is not providing you with paid leave, contact us here at Herrmann Law. You have legal rights now and your employer can be punished for violating your rights. We are employee rights wage and hour litigators fighting to vindicate worker rights. Here is a brief summary of the NMHWA.

How Many Hours of New Mexico Paid Sick Leave?

The NMHWA requires that New Mexico employers provide workers in New Mexico PAID sick leave of 1 hour for each 30 hours of work. In other words, if you work 30 hours during a week, your New Mexico employer must now provide you with one hour of paid family/medical leave. The maximum number of hours that an employer must provide is 64 hours of paid family/medical leave per year.

Do the Hours “Roll Over” Year to Year?

Yes and no. Under the New Mexico paid sick leave law, the hours “roll over” to the next year, but workers are capped at 64 hours of paid leave in a given year.

What May the Paid Leave be Used for?

New Mexico workers can use their paid NMHWA leave for self-care or for care or a member of their family. Paid leave can be used for a long list of things that are broader than the standard definition of “medical care.” Examples include:

• Using paid leave for medical care of oneself or a family member — including physical and mental health issues — thus, paid leave could be used to attend psychological therapy sessions
• Leave for maternity-related reasons including postpartum care
• Attending health-related school or other meetings for a worker’s child
• Attending meetings for other family members such as helping a family member enter an assisted living or nursing home
• Handling issues — like moving to a new home or going to court — related to domestic abuse, sexual assault and/or stalking suffered by the employee or their family member
• And more

What Else Should I Know?

Employers are not allowed to retaliate against workers who use their paid NMFWA leave. Further, workers need only provide a reasonable amount of advance notice for use of their paid leave. Further, workers need not provide paperwork to their employer about the reasons for using their paid leave unless the leave will be longer than a day. In addition, generally, workers can use small amounts of their time — less than an hour.

Call the Employee Rights Attorneys at Herrmann Law Today

For more information, call the Employee Rights attorneys at Herrmann Law. If you think that your employer has violated your rights as an employee, call us. We are proven, experienced, employee-focused attorneys representing workers across the United States in all types of workplace disputes. Use our Online Contact page or call us at (817) 479-9229. We are more than just a law firm for employees – we are an employee’s fiercest advocate, equipping employees with the legal representation needed to achieve the best result possible.