A. An employee shall not be terminated, demoted or in any other manner discriminated against in the terms and conditions of employment because the employee, when serving as a volunteer emergency responder, is absent from the employee's place of employment in order to respond to an emergency or disaster.

B. Subsection A of this section shall not apply if the employee, while acting as a volunteer emergency responder to an emergency or disaster, is absent from the employee's place of employment for a period of more than ten regular business days in a calendar year.

C. An employee who will be absent from the employee's place of employment while serving as a volunteer emergency responder to an emergency or disaster shall make reasonable efforts to notify the employer of that service and shall continue to make those reasonable notification efforts over the course of the absence.

D. An employer may request an employee to provide to the employer a written verification from the office of emergency management or a state or local official managing an emergency or disaster of the dates and time that the employee served as a volunteer emergency responder to an emergency or disaster.

E. An employer may charge against an employee's regular pay time that the employee is absent from employment while serving as a volunteer emergency responder to an emergency or disaster.

History: Laws 2006, ch. 98, § 3.

Effective dates. — Laws 2006, ch. 98 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective May 17, 2006, 90 days after adjournment of the legislature.