Law requiring paid sick leave takes effect in New Mexico

Jul. 1—A law that requires all private employers in New Mexico, regardless of size, to allow their workers to accrue paid sick leave and take it without any threat of retaliation goes into effect Friday.

The law underwent a yearlong administrative delay to give businesses and the state Department of Workforce Solutions time to prepare for it.

Businesses must grant employees one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked up to 64 hours in a 12-month period.

The law enables employees to take paid sick time not only for their own medical reasons but to care for loved ones with health problems.

It also widens the latitude for taking sick leave than most companies have typically allowed, such as mental health treatments, preventive care and dealing with domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking.

Contentious from the start, the bill Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law in 2021 passed mostly along party lines after a rancorous Senate debate.

Worker advocates, including the bill's co-sponsors, rejoiced at an online forum about what they called a hard-fought victory that will benefit employees and employers by creating a more hospitable workplace.

"This bill, I think, is one of the most significant things we have done for essential workers in New Mexico," Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart said. "Shame on us for it taking so long."

Republican senators had pushed unsuccessfully to exempt companies with 15 or fewer employees and to exclude seasonal, temporary and part-time workers.

When asked about the new law, a half-dozen Santa Fe restaurant owners or managers declined to comment for the record, but they were clearly displeased with it.

One restaurateur was outspoken in his criticism.

"I think it's absolutely horrible," said George Gundrey, owner of Tomasita's restaurants in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. "While the governor might have good intentions, it's just another example of not really understanding how family businesses operate."

Gundrey said some of his employees have "issues with alcohol" and now will feel freer to call in sick when they're hungover.

With the industry's labor shortage, it will strain the tightly staffed restaurant, he said.

The new law also requires tracking employees hours and how much sick leave their time worked has earned them, he said, calling it a burdensome layer of bureaucracy.

"It's not about the expense, it's the bureaucracy," Gundrey said. "I want to spend my time figuring out how to provide the best experience for my customers and ... figure out how to have the best work environment for my employees."

A Rio Rancho businessman who backs the new law offered a different perspective.

Ashley Balogh, who owns Cascadia Nutrition, which makes powdered baby formula and supplements, said providing a basic benefit such as paid sick leave helps employers to recruit and retain workers, improving efficiency, morale and even the bottom line.

Balogh also is president of The DPI Group and describes his role as creating jobs for those who suffer barriers in employment. The nonprofit operates in five states, connecting him to labor markets across the country, he said.

"As different states have implemented these mandatory programs, there's a lot of fear from business owners on how it's going to impact their business," Balogh said. "In the years after, the vast majority of them self-report there is no impact to their profitability."

Balogh said employee sick leave costs are a fraction of what he's shelling out for shipping and supply chain problems.

Mandatory sick leave is a sensitive topic because employers feel it is out of their control, but in truth, it's not a big financial drain, he said. If providing sick leave reduces turnover, then it is saving an employer the much larger expense of constantly filling vacancies and training new workers, he said.

At the online conference, several of the speakers agreed the sick leave law will benefit employers by helping them attract the best workers and keep them.

Employees no longer will feel compelled to come to work sick and possibly infect colleagues and customers, state Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos.

It also provides a basic right for a worker to not be thrown into financial hardship or suffer retaliation for taking time off to recover from an illness or to care for a loved one who's sick, said Dona Orgeron, a nurse manager in Albuquerque whose husband, Steve Orgeron, was fired for taking sick leave.

"The retaliation that happens to a lot of people happened to Steve and me," Dona Orgeron said.

As Steve Orgeron told it, he became very ill and asked his boss for some time off.

His boss refused, he said.

Orgeron went to the emergency room. A doctor who examined him discovered he had dangerously high blood sugar levels and gave him a note saying he needed to take five days off work.

"I took it to my boss, and my boss fired me anyways," Orgeron said.

Stewart said the paid leave law is a milestone but just the first step. She and other Democratic lawmakers will introduce a bill in the next legislative session for state-paid family and medical leave.

"We're working on more issues than just paid sick leave," Stewart said.