SENATE BILL 405

55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2021

INTRODUCED BY

Linda M. Lopez

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO HUMAN RIGHTS; EXPANDING THE DEFINITION OF "EMPLOYER" TO INCLUDE JOINT EMPLOYERS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 28-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969, Chapter 196, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

     "28-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Human Rights Act:

          A. "person" means one or more individuals, a partnership, association, organization, corporation, joint venture, legal representative, trustees, receivers or the state and all of its political subdivisions;

          B. "employer" means any person employing four or more persons and any person acting for an employer and includes a joint employer that:

                (1) shares control of an employee with another employer and the employee acts directly or indirectly in the interest of both employers; or

                (2) acts directly or indirectly in the interest of another employer in relation to the employee;

          C. "commission" means the human rights commission;

          D. "director" or "bureau" means the human rights bureau of the labor relations division of the workforce solutions department;

          E. "employee" means any person in the employ of an employer or an applicant for employment;

          F. "labor organization" means any organization that exists for the purpose in whole or in part of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment or of other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment;

          G. "employment agency" means any person regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure opportunities to work or to procure, recruit or refer employees;

          H. "public accommodation" means any establishment that provides or offers its services, facilities, accommodations or goods to the public, but does not include a bona fide private club or other place or establishment that is by its nature and use distinctly private;

          I. "housing accommodation" means any building or portion of a building that is constructed or to be constructed, which is used or intended for use as the residence or sleeping place of any individual;

          J. "real property" means lands, leaseholds or commercial or industrial buildings, whether constructed or to be constructed, offered for sale or rent, and any land rented or leased for the use, parking or storage of house trailers;

          K. "secretary" means the secretary of workforce solutions;

          L. "unlawful discriminatory practices" means those unlawful practices and acts specified in Section 28-1-7 NMSA 1978;

          M. "physical or mental handicap" means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities. A person is also considered to be physically or mentally handicapped if the person has a record of a physical or mental handicap or is regarded as having a physical or mental handicap;

          N. "major life activities" means functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning and working;

          O. "applicant for employment" means a person applying for a position as an employee;

          P. "sexual orientation" means heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality, whether actual or perceived;

          Q. "gender identity" means a person's self-perception, or perception of that person by another, of the person's identity as a male or female based upon the person's appearance, behavior or physical characteristics that are in accord with or opposed to the person's physical anatomy, chromosomal sex or sex at birth;

          R. "reasonable accommodation" means modification or adaptation of the work environment, work schedule, work rules or job responsibilities, and reached through good faith efforts to explore less restrictive or less expensive alternatives to enable an employee to perform the essential functions of the job and that does not impose an undue hardship on the employer; and

          S. "undue hardship" means an accommodation requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of the following factors:

                (1) the nature and cost of the accommodation;

                (2) the financial resources of the employer involved in the provision of the reasonable accommodation;

                (3) the number of persons the employer employs;

                (4) the effect of the accommodation on expenses and resources;

                (5) the impact of the accommodation otherwise upon the employer's business;

                (6) the overall financial resources of the employer;

                (7) the overall size of the business of an employer with respect to the number, type and location of its facilities;

                (8) the type of operation of the employer, including the composition, structure and functions of the workforce of the employer; or

                (9) the geographic separateness or administrative or fiscal relationship to the employer of the employer's facilities."

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