HOUSE BILL 185
50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012
INTRODUCED BY
Rick Little
AN ACT
RELATING TO UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BENEFITS; DISQUALIFYING CERTAIN STATE EMPLOYEES FROM UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION BENEFITS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 51-1-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 47, Section 10, as amended) is amended to read:
"51-1-7. DISQUALIFICATION FOR BENEFITS.--
A. An individual shall be disqualified for and shall not be eligible to receive benefits if it is determined by the division that the individual:
(1) [if it is determined by the division that the individual] left employment voluntarily without good cause in connection with the employment. No individual shall receive benefits until the division has contacted the former employer and determined whether the individual left the employment voluntarily; provided, however, that a person shall not be denied benefits under this paragraph:
(a) solely on the basis of pregnancy or the termination of pregnancy;
(b) because of domestic abuse evidenced by medical documentation, legal documentation or a sworn statement from the claimant; or
(c) if the person voluntarily left work to relocate because of a spouse, who is in the military service of the United States or the New Mexico national guard, receiving permanent change of station orders, activation orders or unit deployment orders;
(2) [if it is determined by the division that the individual] has been discharged for misconduct connected with the individual's employment; [or]
(3) [if it is determined by the division that the individual] has failed without good cause either to apply for available, suitable work when so directed or referred by the division or to accept suitable work when offered; or
(4) performed services in the individual's employment as described in Paragraphs (1) through (5) of Subsection A of Section 51-1-44 NMSA 1978.
B. In determining whether or not any work is suitable for an individual pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection A of this section, the division shall consider the degree of risk involved to the individual's health, safety and morals, the individual's physical fitness, prior training, approved training, experience, prior earnings, length of unemployment and prospects for securing local work in the individual's customary occupation and the distance of available work from the individual's residence. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the Unemployment Compensation Law, no work shall be deemed suitable and benefits shall not be denied under the Unemployment Compensation Law to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new work under any of the following conditions:
(1) if the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout or other labor dispute;
(2) if the wages, hours or other conditions of the work offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar work in the locality; or
(3) if, as a condition of being employed, the individual would be required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain from joining any bona fide labor organizations.
C. An individual shall be disqualified for, and shall not be eligible to receive, benefits for any week with respect to which the division finds that the individual's unemployment is due to a labor dispute at the factory, establishment or other premises at which the individual is or was last employed; provided that this subsection shall not apply if it is shown to the satisfaction of the division that:
(1) the individual is not participating in or directly interested in the labor dispute; and
(2) the individual does not belong to a grade or class of workers of which, immediately before the commencement of the labor dispute, there were members employed at the premises at which the labor dispute occurs, any of whom are participating in or directly interested in the dispute; provided that if in any case separate branches of work that are commonly conducted in separate businesses in separate premises are conducted in separate departments of the same premises, each such department shall, for the purposes of this subsection, be deemed to be a separate factory, establishment or other premises.
D. An individual shall be disqualified for, and shall not be eligible to receive, benefits for any week with respect to which, or a part of which, the individual has received or is seeking, through any agency other than the division, unemployment benefits under an unemployment compensation law of another state or of the United States; provided that if the appropriate agency of such other state or of the United States finally determines that the individual is not entitled to such unemployment benefits, this disqualification shall not apply.
E. A disqualification pursuant to Paragraph (1), [or] (2) or (4) of Subsection A of this section shall continue for the duration of the individual's unemployment and until the individual has earned wages in bona fide employment other than self-employment, as provided by rule of the secretary, in an amount equivalent to five times the individual's weekly benefit otherwise payable. A disqualification pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection A of this section shall include the week the failure occurred and shall continue for the duration of the individual's unemployment and until the individual has earned wages in bona fide employment other than self-employment, as provided by rule of the secretary, in an amount equivalent to five times the individual's weekly benefit amount otherwise payable; provided that no more than one such disqualification shall be imposed upon an individual for failure to apply for or accept the same position, or a similar position, with the same employer, except upon a determination by the division of disqualification pursuant to Subsection C of this section.
F. As used in this section:
(1) "domestic abuse" means that term as defined in Section 40-13-2 NMSA 1978; and
(2) "employment" means employment by the individual's last employer as defined by rules of the secretary."
SECTION 2. Section 51-1-44 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1977, Chapter 227, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:
"51-1-44. ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.--For purposes of the Unemployment Compensation Law:
A. "employment" means service performed by an individual in the employ of a governmental entity unless such service is performed by an individual in the exercise of [his] the individual's duties:
(1) as an elected official;
(2) as a member of a legislative body or a member of the judiciary of a governmental entity of this state;
(3) as a member of the national guard or air national guard;
(4) as an employee serving on a temporary basis in case of fire, snow, earthquake, flood or similar emergency; or
(5) in a position [which] that, under or pursuant to state law, is designated as:
(a) a major nontenured policymaking or advisory position; [or]
(b) a policymaking or advisory position the performance of the duties of which ordinarily does not require more than eight hours per week; or
(c) exempt and the individual is in a policymaking or supervisory position and serves at the discretion of an agency head of a governmental entity or at the discretion of an appointee of an agency head of a governmental entity;
B. "governmental entity" means the state or any political subdivision thereof, or any instrumentality of any one or more of the foregoing [which] that is wholly owned by one or more states or political subdivisions;
C. "local public body" means all political subdivisions of the state or any of their agencies, instrumentalities and institutions or any county hospitals or outpatient clinics thereof, leased to, or operated under an agreement with, a state educational institution named in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico. The term "local public body" shall not be construed to mean school districts; and
D. "state" or "state agency" means the state of New Mexico or any of its branches, agencies, departments, boards, instrumentalities or institutions and all school districts of this state."
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