Jury Duty and Court Attendance Leave Law Summaries
New Mexico, Jury Duty and Court Attendance Leave Law Summaries
New Mexico's jury duty leave law is located in the New Mexico Statutes Annotated at Ch. 38, Art. 5. The full text of the law is available beginning at Wages-Hours ¶32-59,001 . There are also provisions relating to leave for crime victims, to be added to Chapter 50, Article 4, by S. 68, L. 2009, enacted March 19, 2009, and effective July 1, 2009 (Not yet codified); this law is entitled the “Promoting Financial Independence for Victims of Domestic Abuse Act.”
DEFINITIONS
“Domestic Abuse” has the same meaning as defined under the “Family Violence Protection Act”: (1) an incident of stalking or sexual assault whether committed by a household member or not; (2) an incident by a household member against another household member consisting of or resulting in physical harm, severe emotional distress, bodily injury or assault, a threat causing imminent fear of bodily injury by any household member, criminal trespass, criminal damage to property, repeatedly driving by a residence or work place, telephone harassment, harassment, or harm or threatened harm to children; and (3) does not mean the use of force in self-defense or the defense of another (Sec. 1 of s. 68, L. 2009, effective July 1, 2009, and Sec. 40-13-2(C)).
“Family member” means a minor child of the employee or a person for whom the employee is a legal guardian (Sec. 2 of S. 68, L. 2009, effective July 1, 2009).
“Order of protection” means a court order granted pursuant to the Family Violence Protection Act (Sec. 2 of S. 68, L.. 2009, effective July 1, 2009).
COVERAGE
All employers are covered under New Mexico's jury duty leave law. All employers, both public and private, including state and local government agencies and school districts, are covered employers for purposes of leave for crime victims.
WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO
An employer shall not deprive an employee of employment or threaten or otherwise coerce the employee because the employee receives a summons for jury service, responds to the summons, serves as a juror or attends court for prospective jury service (Sec. 38-5-18(A), as amended by Ch. 107 (S. 240), L. 2005).
An employer shall not require or request an employee to use annual, vacation or sick leave for time spent responding to a summons for jury service, participating in the jury selection process or serving on a jury. Nothing in this section requires an employer to provide annual, vacation or sick leave to employees who are not otherwise entitled to those benefits under company policies (Sec. 38-5-18(B), as amended by Ch. 107 (S. 240), L. 2005).
Petit jury service.- A court shall postpone and reschedule the service of a summoned juror if the summoned juror is (1) employed by an employer with five or fewer full-time employees, or their equivalent, and another employee of the same employer is summoned to appear during the same period; or (2) the only person performing particular services for a business, commercial or agricultural enterprise and whose services are so essential to the operations of the business, commercial or agricultural enterprise that the enterprise must close or cease to function if the person is required to perform jury duty (Sec. 3, Ch. 107 (S. 240), L. 2005).
Crime Victims/Witness Leave. -Employers must grant employees a leave of absence of up to 14 days, intermittent paid or unpaid, in any calendar year, for up to eight hours in a day, to obtain an order of protection or other judicial relief from domestic abuse or to meet with law enforcement officials, to consult with attorneys or district attorneys' victim advocates, or to attend court proceedings related to the domestic abuse of the employee or an employee's family member. Employees may also use accrued sick leave or other available time off, compensatory time, or unpaid leave time consistent with the employer's policies. To the extent permitted by law, employers can not withhold pay, health insurance coverage, or other benefits accrued to the employee, and the employer can not take such leave time into consideration in calculating eligibility for benefits. Employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees by taking any adverse action, including threats, reprisals, or discrimination, for engaging in the protected activity of taking domestic abuse leave. This law does not act to supersede or diminish any other provision of law, contract, collective bargaining agreement or employee benefit plan, program or policy that may provide greater rights (Sections 2, 3, 5 and 8 of S. 68, L. 2009, effective July 1, 2009).
Verification. -An employer may require verification of the need for domestic abuse leave, and, if so, the employee must provide one of the following forms of verification in a timely manner: (1) a police report indicating that the employee or a family member was a victim of domestic abuse; (2) a copy of a protection order or other court evidence, but such document does not constitute a waiver of confidentiality or privilege between the employee and the employee's advocate or attorney; or (3) the written statement of an attorney representing the employee, a district attorney's victim advocate, a law enforcement official or a prosecuting attorney that the employee or employee's family member appeared or is scheduled to appear in court in connection with an incident of domestic abuse (Sec. 4 of S. 68, L. 2009, effective July 1, 2009).
Confidentiality of information. -The employer is not disclose information obtained for verification of domestic abuse leave and must maintain confidentiality of the fact that the employee or employee's family member was involved in a domestic abuse incident, that the employee requested or obtained domestic abuse leave and that the employee made any written or oral statement about the need for domestic abuse leave. An employer may disclose an employee's information related to domestic abuse leave only when the employee consents, when a court or administrative agency orders the disclosure or when otherwise required by federal or state law (Sec. 6 of S. 68, L. 2009, effective July 1, 2009).
NOTICE
Crime Victims/Witness Leave. -If domestic abuse leave is taken in an emergency, the employee or the employee's designee must give notice to the employer within 24 hours of commencing the domestic abuse leave (Sec. 4 of S. 68, L. 2009, effective July 1, 2009).
ENFORCEMENT
Crime Victims/Witness Leave. - The workforce solutions department has the authority to enforce the law and to investigate complaints relating to leave for victims of domestic abuse. Both the department and the employee have the right to bring an action in violation of the law in a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin further violations, recover actual damages sustained or both, together with costs and reasonable attorney fees (Sec. 7 of S. 68, L. 2009, effective July 1, 2009).
PENALTIES
Criminal penalties
Relief or penalties for jury duty leave violations may include orders directing the employer to be imprisoned for a term not to exceed six months or pay a fine up to $500, or both (Ch. 31, Art. 19, Sec. 31-19-1).
<p>Relief or penalties for jury duty leave violations may include orders directing the employer to be imprisoned for a term not to exceed six months or pay a fine </p>
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