Filing a Workplace Harassment Complaint in New Mexico

Ninety days, and this is the deadline that ends most New Mexico claims. NMSA 1978, 28-1-13(A) requires the notice of appeal to be filed within ninety days from the date of service of the order, in the district court of the county where the discriminatory practice occurred or where the respondent does business. Be careful with the trigger date: NMSA 1978, 28-1-11(E) deems all parties served on the tenth day following mailing of the order by certified mail, while 9.1.1.10(B) NMAC describes the period as 90 calendar days after receipt. Use the earlier date and confirm the computation with a New Mexico employment lawyer the week the order arrives.

Not on that letter alone. Cross filing does real work on timing, because 9.1.1.8(E)(2) NMAC deems a complaint first filed with an agency holding a worksharing agreement with the bureau to be filed with the bureau as of the date the perfected complaint was first filed. But protecting your filing date is not the same as exhausting the state procedure, and New Mexico courts have dismissed state claims with prejudice where a claimant went to the EEOC, took the federal letter and sued without a state order. If you cross filed, ask the Bureau for an order of nondetermination rather than assuming the federal paperwork covers you.

Yes, if you may want to hold that person personally responsible later. New Mexico requires administrative remedies to be exhausted against each individual defendant, and a complainant who named only the corporation on the charge has been held unable to pursue an individual personally in district court afterwards. Most people write the employer's name on the form because that is what the form seems to ask for. List the company and each individual who harassed you, and keep a copy of what you submitted.

Almost certainly yes. NMSA 1978, 28-1-2(B) defines employer as any person employing four or more persons and any person acting for an employer, with no calendar week counting test to work through, and the Human Rights Act lost its old fifteen employee limitation in 2004. That means a New Mexican at a five person company has no federal Title VII claim, which needs 15 employees, but a full state claim. Public employers are covered too, because 28-1-2(A) includes the state and all of its political subdivisions within person. The single exception is spousal affiliation, which under 28-1-7(A) applies only where the employer has fifty or more employees.

NMSA 1978, 28-1-7(A) makes it unlawful for an employer, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or other statutory prohibition, to refuse to hire, discharge, promote or demote, or discriminate in matters of compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, physical or mental disability, serious medical condition or military status. Military status was added in 2024 and gender was added as a separate class in 2023, so older lists are incomplete. Sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender each have their own statutory definitions at 28-1-2(R) to (U).

The case moves toward a hearing before the Human Rights Commission, which is a separate body from the Bureau: the Bureau investigates and issues determinations, and the eleven member Commission created by NMSA 1978, 28-1-3(A) adjudicates. You do not have to stay there. Under 28-1-10(J) and 9.1.1.11 NMAC you may request a waiver of the right to a commission hearing within 60 days of service and take the case to district court for a trial de novo instead. NMSA 1978, 28-1-10(G) also requires the commission or director, within one year of filing, either to dismiss for lack of probable cause, achieve a satisfactory adjustment, or file a formal complaint.