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...more
4/20/2021
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Expungement ,
Marijuana ,
New Legislation ,
Recreational Use ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Workplace Safety ,
Zero Tolerance Policies
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...more
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...more
New Mexico has been making waves with several noteworthy labor and employment developments. This Lightbulb will highlight interesting legal quirks in the Land of Enchantment, along with recently enacted and proposed...more
3/2/2020
/ #MeToo ,
Casinos ,
Firearms ,
Gun Laws ,
Minimum Wage ,
Native American Issues ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Protective Orders ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Red Flags Rule ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tribal Governments ,
Wage and Hour
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...more
10/31/2019
/ Accrual Requirements ,
Adverse Employment Action ,
Amended Legislation ,
Carry-Over Basis ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Retaliation ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour
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...more
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...more
4/17/2019
/ Ban the Box ,
Caregivers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
E-Cigarettes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Neutral ,
Health Insurance ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Preemption ,
Right to Work ,
School Restrooms ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tipped Employees ,
Wage and Hour
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...more
In Garcia v. Hatch Valley Public Schools, the New Mexico Supreme Court recently examined whether a plaintiff has a relatively heightened evidentiary burden in proving a reverse discrimination claim brought under the New...more
3/14/2018
/ Appeals ,
Burden-Shifting ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employee Evaluations ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Evidence ,
Hiring & Firing ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
Popular ,
Race Discrimination ,
Retaliation ,
Reverse Discrimination ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII
In HTH Corporation v. NLRB, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to expand the remedies under the National Labor Relations Act for unfair labor practices to...more
In Ramirez v. State of N.M. Children, Youth and Families Department, filed on April 14, 2016, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that a New Mexico National Guard member could assert a claim against the state as the employer...more