New Mexico State Employees Increasing Sick Leave After In-Person Work Mandate
New Mexico state employees are taking more sick leave since returning to the office, raising concerns among labor leaders about the impact of the mandate.
New Mexico, Sick Leave, State Employees, COVID-19, Labor Union
SANTA FE: So, it turns out that since New Mexico state workers have been called back to the office, they’ve been taking a lot more sick leave. It’s kind of interesting, right? A report shows that these employees racked up over 1.6 million hours of paid sick leave in the last budget year. That’s a jump from 1.4 million hours in 2022 and 1.1 million in 2021.
Labor union leaders think this spike is tied to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s decision to end the remote work policy that was in place during the pandemic. Megan Green, who heads the local Communications Workers of America union, mentioned that people are definitely using sick leave more now that they can’t work from home.
Linsey Hurst, the union’s vice president, shared her own experience. She had to use almost all her sick leave recently after catching COVID-19 and another nasty virus. She felt that if remote work was still an option, she could have bounced back to work much quicker.
It’s clear that folks are feeling a bit different about being in the office with others who might be coughing. But on the flip side, State Personnel Director Dylan Lange isn’t convinced that the return-to-office rule is the only reason for the increase in sick leave. He pointed out that a policy change in 2020 allowed employees to earn more sick leave, which might also explain the uptick.
Last year, the cost of sick leave for state employees hit around $51.3 million, which is almost double what it was three years ago. The administration had announced in late 2022 that they’d be ending the remote work policy, and the mandate for everyone to return to the office kicked in February 2023. Union leaders had warned that this could lead to a lot of employees leaving their jobs.
Even with pay raises for state workers over the past seven years, the number of employees has stayed pretty much the same, and some agencies are still dealing with high vacancy rates. The average salary for classified employees in New Mexico is about $66,976, but when you add in benefits, it jumps to around $108,607.
Plus, state employees can cash out some of their sick leave once a year, but only if they have more than 600 hours saved up. If they retire, they can cash out even more. It’s a lot to think about!