Governor signs paid sick leave bill

SANTA FE — New Mexico will join about 15 other states in requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave for their workers — but not until July of next year — under a measure signed into law Thursday by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The sick leave bill, House Bill 20, was one of 10 bills signed by the governor on Thursday.

It generated pointed debate at the Roundhouse during the session after a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on workers and businesses alike.

Even the governor expressed misgivings about the impact the paid leave bill could have on businesses, but she threw her support behind the legislation after backers agreed to postpone its effective date from this summer to July 2022.

“This is, point blank, a humane policy for workers,” Lujan Grisham said in a Thursday statement after signing the bill. “No one should ever be compelled to come to work when they are sick. And no worker should ever feel they must choose between their health and their livelihood.”

Once it takes effect next year, the new law will be among the nation’s most generous by allowing workers to take up to 64 hours of accrued leave per year.

The union-backed bill will specifically permit employees to use that accumulated leave for illnesses, injuries, family medical appointments and absences due to domestic abuse or sexual assault.

Critics argued it will impose another financial burden on businesses whose sales have plummeted during the pandemic, but supporters described their concerns as overblown at a time when many businesses are getting state and federal financial aid.

Many grocery store employees and other front-line workers testified during the legislative session they sometimes had to pick between going to work while sick during the pandemic, or staying home and risking losing part of their paycheck.

Bellanira Lozano, a Santa Fe single mother who works as a domestic worker and caretaker, said Thursday the pandemic hit her family hard.

“This law means families like mine won’t have to decide between getting paid or going to work sick,” said Lozano, who is a member of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a nonprofit organization that was among a coalition of groups that advocated for the new law.

Meanwhile, the proposal approved by lawmakers does not exempt small employers, as some other states have done. But it will allow employers that already offer paid leave programs to qualify under the law as long as they meet its minimum terms.