New Mexico (NM) Age Discrimination Law in the Workplace

August 19th, 2006 Posted by Ashley

Action taken to address discrimination complaints in New Mexico is guided by the New Mexico Human Rights Act of 1969 and by federal agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The state has a work-sharing or dual-filing agreement, so it is not necessary to contact both offices. What I found is that you now have more time to file a complaint with the Human Rights Division of the New Mexico Department of Labor, as the state legislature changed the filing deadline to 300 days of the alleged incident.

After the proper forms are completed and returned, one of the first things you will be asked is if you are interested in mediation to settle the case. If either side does not wish to have a mediator attempt to settle the matter, an investigator from the Human Rights Division will start the process of gathering information before passing it on to the director of the division. It’s at this point that your case could move forward on the basis of probable cause or no probable cause. You also have the right to appeal the decision to court.

New Mexico has instituted the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process in order to place more emphasis on mediation and conciliation to settle complaints. The department encourages this method because it is much less costly than a complete investigation. Through research on cases involving the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), I found a May 2006 decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals slightly changed a previous ruling by the same court. Under the new decision for Kruchowski v. Weyerhauser Company, employers may not have to describe the factors they used to decide which employees would be chosen for termination when they want workers to sign a release for claims of discrimination.

In the original decision, each person included in the complaint signed a release agreement so that he or she could receive the severance package from the company. At that time, the U.S. District Court ruled that the employer’s disclosure statement included the proper eligibility factors.

Last 10 posts by Ashley

« New Jersey (NJ) Age Discrimination Law in the Workplace
New York (NY) Age Discrimination Law in the Workplace »
Posted in Discrimination, Employment Laws, Hostile Environment, New Mexico

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