A. A state agency or public school that provides eligible employees with sick leave for an eligible employee's own illness or injury or to receive health care shall permit its eligible employees to use accrued sick leave to care for their family members in accordance with the same terms and procedures that the state agency or public school imposes for any other use of sick leave by eligible employees.

B. A state agency or public school employing an eligible employee shall not discharge or threaten to discharge, demote, suspend or retaliate or discriminate in any manner, including using the employee's use of caregiver leave as a factor in the employee's performance evaluation, against an eligible employee because that employee requests or uses caregiver leave in accordance with the state agency's or public school's general sick leave policy, files a grievance for violation of the Public Employee Caregiver Leave Act, cooperates in an investigation or prosecution of an alleged violation of that act or opposes any policy or practice established pursuant to that act.

C. Nothing in this section shall require a state agency or public school to provide sick leave to its employees.

D. The provisions of the Public Employee Caregiver Leave Act are nonexclusive and cumulative and are in addition to any other rights or remedies afforded by contract or under other provision of law. The Public Employee Caregiver Leave Act does not prohibit a state agency or public school from providing greater sick leave benefits than are provided pursuant to that act.

E. Each state agency director and public school administrator shall adopt and promulgate policies to implement the provisions of the Public Employee Caregiver Leave Act. These policies shall include, at a minimum, grievance procedures for according eligible employees recourse for violations of the Public Employee Caregiver Leave Act. As used in this section, "state agency director" means:

(1) the director of the state personnel office for those state agencies to which the provisions of the Personnel Act [Chapter 10, Article 9 NMSA 1978] apply; and

(2) the director of a state agency to which the provisions of the Personnel Act do not apply.

History: Laws 2019, ch. 177, § 7.

Effective dates. — Laws 2019, ch. 177 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 14, 2019, 90 days after the adjournment of the legislature.