New Mexico Business Coalition (NMBC), as well as a number of small business groups, are celebrating after the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) -- legislation that would have required workers to receive 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave -- was stopped this past session.
As previously reported by New Mexico Sun, the PFMLA bill, also known as Senate Bill 11, would be a state-run program managed by the Department of Workforce Solutions. Both employees and employers would contribute to the state-managed fund that would provide the funds necessary to pay workers a portion of their wages in the event they require paid time off for family or medical leave.
The cost to employers would be about $5 for every $1,000 of wages received, while the cost for employees would be $5 for every $1,000 of wages paid. The formula for benefits is 100% of minimum wage plus 67% of wages above minimum wage.
NMBC testified in committee hearings and helped facilitate thousands of calls and emails to legislators to help stop the passage of the bill.
“A great example of legislation that NMBC helped stop is SB 11 Paid Family Medical Leave Act (PFMLA). This bill, which would have mandated 12 weeks of paid time off per year (in addition to the previously mandated eight days off for sickness), by imposing a new tax on employers and employees,” NMBC said in an email. “As a member of the PFMLA Task Force to advise legislators on this issue, NMBC's testimony in committee hearings was especially impactful. Our facilitation of over 41,000 calls and emails to legislators also helped to stop SB 11.”
The NMBC noted that PFMLA would cost well over $400 million if it becomes law, paid for by employees and employers out-of-pocket.
According to a survey conducted by the New Mexico Business Coalition at the end of last year with 79 small business owners in New Mexico regarding the New Mexico PFMLA, the proposal would in fact hurt their businesses, as well as their employees.
“Overwhelmingly, business owners are completely opposed to this proposed legislation,” NMBC President Carla Sonntag told New Mexico Sun in a previous interview. “Some of the responses showed frustration with government officials for putting this proposal forward and others indicated anger towards the micromanagement and unwieldy demands of elected officials on business owners. Some of the respondents said they cannot afford this on top of paid sick leave, after the Healthy Workplaces Act was signed into law in 2021 and went into effect on July 1, 2022."
