2021 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 50 - Employment Law
Article 17 - Healthy Workplaces
Section 50-17-2 - Definitions. (Effective July 1, 2022.)

As used in the Healthy Workplaces Act:

A. "division" means the labor relations division of the workforce solutions department;

B. "domestic partner" means an individual with whom another individual maintains a household and a mutual committed relationship without a legally recognized marriage;

C. "earned sick leave" means time that is compensated at the same hourly rate and with the same benefits, including health care benefits, as an employee normally earns during hours worked and is provided by an employer to that employee for the purposes described in the Healthy Workplaces Act, but in no case shall the hourly rate be less than the applicable legally required minimum wage rate;

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

E. "employee" means an individual employed by an employer for remuneration, including an individual employed on a part-time, seasonal or temporary basis; "employee" does not mean an employee of an employer subject to the provisions of Title II of the federal Railway Labor Act or an employee as defined in either the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act or the Federal Employers' Liability Act;

F. "employer" means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, legal representative or any organized group of persons employing one or more employees at any one time, acting in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, but shall not include the United States, the state or any political subdivision of the state;

G. "family member" means an employee's spouse or domestic partner or a person related to an employee or an employee's spouse or domestic partner as:

(1) a biological, adopted or foster child, a stepchild or legal ward, or a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis;

(2) a biological, foster, step or adoptive parent or legal guardian, or a person who stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child;

(3) a grandparent;

(4) a grandchild;

(5) a biological, foster, step or adopted sibling;

(6) a spouse or domestic partner of a family member; or

(7) an individual whose close association with the employee or the employee's spouse or domestic partner is the equivalent of a family relationship;

H. "health care professional" means a person licensed pursuant to federal or state law to provide health care services, including nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, doctors and emergency room personnel;

I. "independent contractor" means a person who agrees to do certain work where the person who engages the contractor may direct the result to be accomplished but does not have the right to control the manner in which the details of the work are to be performed; and

J. "retaliation" means any threat, discharge, discipline, suspension, demotion, non-promotion, less favorable scheduling, reduction of hours or application of absence control policies that count an employee's use of earned sick leave as an absence that may lead to adverse action, or other adverse action against employees for the exercise of a right guaranteed pursuant to the Healthy Workplaces Act, including sanctions against an employee who is a recipient of benefits or rights pursuant to the Healthy Workplaces Act. "Retaliation" includes interference with or punishment for participating in an investigation, proceeding or hearing pursuant to the Healthy Workplaces Act.

History: Laws 2021, ch. 131, § 2.

Cross references. — For the federal Railway Labor Act, see 15 U.S.C. §§ 21, 45; 18 U.S.C. § 373; 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 to 1294 and 45 U.S.C. §§ 151 to 163, 181 to 188.

For the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, see 45 U.S.C. § 351 et seq.

For the Federal Employers' Liability Act, see 45 U.S.C. § 51 et seq.

Effective dates. — Laws 2021, ch. 131, § 13 made Laws 2021, ch. 131, § 2 effective July 1, 2022.