There are two ways:
- Online at https://www.dws.state.nm.us/NMPaidSickLeave. About a third of the way down on the left side are links to the online Healthy Workplaces Act Complaint Form in English and Spanish. About a third of the way down on the right side are links to download a form, which you can fill out, physically sign, and then mail, email, fax, or drop-off to our offices in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. You can also drop off the form at any Workforce Connections office around the state.
- In-person at any Labor Relation Division office or New Mexico Workforce Connection Center for help in obtaining and/or filling out a paper form, which you can then sign and leave with staff, or take the form home and later mail, email, fax, or drop it off at these locations.
Employees or their immediate family member. A 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:
- a biological, adopted or foster child, a stepchild or legal ward, or a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis;
- 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;
- a grandparent;
- a grandchild;
- a biological, foster, step or adopted sibling;
- a spouse or domestic partner of a family member; or
- an individual whose close association with the employee or the employee's spouse or domestic partner is the equivalent of a family relationship.
An employee may use earned sick leave:
- for the employee's:
- mental or physical illness, injury or health condition;
- medical diagnosis, care or treatment of a mental or physical illness, injury or health condition; or
- preventive medical care;
- for care of family members of the employee for the same reasons as above;
- for meetings at the employee's child's school or place of care related to the child's health or disability; or
- for absence necessary due to domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking suffered by the employee or a family member of the employee, provided that the leave is for the employee to:
- obtain medical or psychological treatment or other counseling;
- relocate;
- prepare for or participate in legal proceedings; or
- obtain services or assist a family member of the employee with any of the activities set forth in Subparagraphs (1) through (3) of this paragraph.
This is up to the employer. The employer could choose to grant an employee 64 hours at the beginning of the year, or they can provide one hour for every thirty hours worked throughout the year. You should contact your employer’s human resources department for more information.
If you have no more accrued sick leave available, your request for sick leave no longer falls under the Healthy Workplaces Act and its protections. Whether your employer will issue disciplinary action will be determined by the employer’s policy. You should contact your employer’s HR Department or consult the employer’s policies to determine what, if any, disciplinary actions may be issued.