2019 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 28 - Human Rights
Article 23 - Fair Pay for Women
Section 28-23-2 - Definitions.

As used in the Fair Pay for Women Act:

A. "commission" means the human rights commission;

B. "director" means the chief of the human rights bureau of the labor relations division of the workforce solutions department;

C. "employ" means suffer or permit to work;

D. "employee" means any individual employed by an employer;

E. "employer" means a person employing four or more employees and any person acting for an employer;

F. "unpaid wage" means the difference between the wages paid to the employee and the wages that would have been paid to the employee had the discrimination not occurred; and

G. "wage" means compensation for performance of services by an employee for an employer whether paid by the employer or another person, including cash value of all compensation paid in any medium other than cash.

History: Laws 2013, ch. 12, § 2.

Effective dates. — Laws 2013, ch. 12 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 14, 2013, 90 days after the adjournment of the legislature.

The state of New Mexico is an employer subject to claims brought under the Fair Pay for Women Act. — The state, an entity capable of suing and being sued, is a legal entity that falls within the definition of "person" and thus is subject to suit for violating the terms of the Fair Pay for Women Act. Wolinsky v. N.M. Corrections Dep't, 2018-NMCA-071, cert. denied.

State employee's right to pursue wage discrimination claims. — Where plaintiff sued her employer, the New Mexico corrections department, for sex-based pay discrimination in violation of the Fair Pay for Women Act (FPWA), alleging that her salary was approximately $8,000 less than that of a male employee in the same position, the district court erred in dismissing plaintiff's case based on the conclusion that defendant, a state agency, was not subject to the FPWA, because the state, an entity capable of suing and being sued, is a legal entity that falls within the definition of "person" and thus is subject to suit for violating the terms of the FPWA; the FPWA provides state employees the same right to pursue sex-based wage discrimination claims that persons employed by private employers possess. Wolinsky v. N.M. Corrections Dep't, 2018-NMCA-071, cert. denied.