New Mexico Sick and Safe Leave

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This guide provides essential information about New Mexico sick leave and how it applies to your business. The law applies to any employer with at least one employee in New Mexico, including full-time, part-time, and temporary workers, with some limitations.

Accrual Rate:

All eligible employees must accrue sick leave at a minimum rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. Employers may not cap annual accrual, but can cap usage at 64 hours per year. Instead of hourly accrual, employers may choose to frontload sick leave as a lump sum of 64 hours on January 1 of each year. Employers may prorate the frontloaded amount for new hires.

Carryover: 

Carryover Requirement: Employers must allow employees to carryover all unused accrued sick leave hours into the next year, up to a maximum of 64 hours, regardless of employer size or method used for granting sick leave.

There are other requirements under the state sick leave law, which you may read more about here. Some of these requirements are also detailed further below. Employers can also read up on general sick leave best practices here. 

Employee Eligibility & Use

All employees in New Mexico are entitled to paid sick leave, with a few exceptions. Employees may use earned sick time for any of the following reasons:

• Their own, or their family member’s, illness, injury, or health condition, or for a medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of an illness, injury, or health condition, or for preventive medical care.
• Meetings related to the child’s health or disability at the employee’s child’s school or place of care.
• Certain purposes when the employee or their family member is a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking.

Some employees are exempt from this law, such as certain railroad employees.

You should review the law and resources at the bottom of this page to understand additional requirements under the New Mexico law, such as increments of use, how hours are determined for exempt and salaried employees, how pay is calculated, who is a “family member,” what type of notice and documentation an employer may require, pay statement requirements, and how sick time is handled upon termination of employment. 

Interaction with an Employer’s Existing Policies

An employer’s paid time off (PTO) plan or other type of paid leave (including sick or vacation time) can satisfy this law if, at a minimum, the plan meets the law’s requirements (e.g., accrual, carryover, and use requirements of the sick leave, etc.). Additionally, nothing prohibits an employer from providing more generous leave policies than the minimum required by the law.

Notice Requirements

Employers must provide written notice to each employee at the time of hiring that includes, but is not limited to:

• Employee’s right to earned sick leave;
• How sick leave is accrued and calculated;
• Terms of using sick leave as guaranteed by the sick leave law;
• Retaliation against employees for using sick leave is prohibited;
• Employee’s right to file a complaint with the division if their employer denies them sick leave or retaliates against them; and
• Means of enforcing violations of the sick leave law.

The notice must be in English, Spanish, or the employee’s first language if it is spoken by at least 10% of employees, as requested by the employee. 

Employers must also display a poster with the information listed above (with the same language requirements) at each worksite in a conspicuous and accessible place where employees can easily read it.

The state provides resources, guides, and notice posters on its website here.

If you set up a separate sick leave policy in Justworks as a PEO customer, we will automatically add this balance information to employees' paystubs, and it is available to your employees at any time when they log into the Justworks platform. 

Limitations on Paid Sick Leave

Employees in New Mexico begin accruing sick leave on their first day of work, and may be allowed to use earned sick time as it is accrued.

An employer is not required to pay out accrued, unused paid sick time when an employee separates from employment with the employer. 

Keep in mind that if a separated employee is rehired within twelve months of separation, the employer must reinstate any previously unused earned sick time for immediate use and accrue additional earned sick time at the time of rehire.

Local Paid Sick and Safe Leave

Several cities and counties in New Mexico have separate paid sick and safe leave regulations and ordinances. Jurisdictions with paid sick leave ordinances are listed below, and that list continues to grow. Some of these local ordinances offer more generous sick leave entitlements than the state requirements.

If more than one paid sick leave law applies, you must comply with the provisions of each law that most benefit the employee. Your paid sick leave policy and practices should be reviewed periodically by your legal counsel for the states and localities in which your employees are working to ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, and to ensure that your policy and practices are appropriate to your particular situation.

Resources & Notes

• Help Center: Sick and Safe Leave
• New Mexico: New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions
• Bernalillo County: Employee Wellness Act
• Mineral: New Mexico Sick Leave*
• Mineral: Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Earned Paid Leave*

* Be sure you’re logged into your Justworks account with administrator permissions to access Mineral, which is included for Justworks PEO customers. If you’d like to learn more about Justworks PEO, contact Support at 888-534-1711.

Disclaimer

This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, legal or tax advice. If you have any legal or tax questions regarding this content or related issues, then you should consult with your professional legal or tax advisor.