2017 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 10 - Public Officers and Employees
Article 16C - Whistleblower Protection
Section 10-16C-2 - Definitions.
10-16C-2. Definitions.
As used in the Whistleblower Protection Act:
A. "good faith" means that a reasonable basis exists in fact as evidenced by the facts available to the public employee;
B. "public employee" means a person who works for or contracts with a public employer;
C. "public employer" means:
(1) any department, agency, office, institution, board, commission, committee, branch or district of state government;
(2) any political subdivision of the state, created under either general or special act, that receives or expends public money from whatever source derived;
(3) any entity or instrumentality of the state specifically provided for by law; and
(4) every office or officer of any entity listed in Paragraphs (1) through (3) of this subsection;
D. "retaliatory action" means taking any discriminatory or adverse employment action against a public employee in the terms and conditions of public employment; and
E. "unlawful or improper act" means a practice, procedure, action or failure to act on the part of a public employer that:
(1) violates a federal law, a federal regulation, a state law, a state administrative rule or a law of any political subdivision of the state;
(2) constitutes malfeasance in public office; or
(3) constitutes gross mismanagement, a waste of funds, an abuse of authority or a substantial and specific danger to the public.
History: Laws 2010, ch. 12, 2.
