Brett Duke represents employees across New Mexico who were punished for speaking up — in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, and the smaller places in between. New Mexico law is unusually good on this, and most people have no idea how good.
That is not a slogan. Three things make it true, and they compound.
New Mexico protects more people. The Human Rights Act reaches a longer list of characteristics than most states', and it applies to employers with as few as four employees. A great many small New Mexico businesses are covered where they would not be elsewhere.
New Mexico has a whistleblower statute with real teeth. For anyone employed by a government body — the State, a county, a city, a school district, a public university or hospital — the Whistleblower Protection Act provides doubled back pay and requires the employer to pay the employee's attorney fees. Very few employment statutes anywhere do that. More here.
New Mexico courts kept a claim the Legislature never wrote. Alongside the statutes, New Mexico recognizes a common-law claim for retaliatory discharge when a firing runs against a clear public policy. It has no employer-size floor, and damages are not limited to lost wages.
Cases are filed in the district court for the county where the work happened — the Second Judicial District in Bernalillo County, the First in Santa Fe, the Third in Doña Ana, and so on across the state.
New Mexico has an unusually large public workforce for its population. State departments and agencies, thirty-three counties, the cities, the school districts, the public universities and the public hospitals employ an enormous share of working New Mexicans — and every one of them is covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act.
On the private side, the matters that come through this office concentrate in healthcare and eldercare, retail and warehousing, construction and trades, oil and gas services in the southeast, hospitality, call centers, and the staffing agencies that supply all of them.
One thing worth saying plainly: if you worked through a staffing agency or a PEO and have no idea who technically employed you, that is not a barrier. Cases here are routinely brought against more than one entity at once, and sorting out which is which is the office's job, not yours.
Every retaliation claim starts with something the employee did. Start with the one that matches yours.
Complained to HR, a supervisor, or a hotline that someone was treated worse because of a characteristic the law protects.
A doctor's note, a restriction, time off for treatment. The request itself is protected.
Once an agency notifies your employer, there is no arguing about what they knew.
The Whistleblower Protection Act — double back pay, and the employer pays your attorney fees.
Fraud, patient abuse, unsafe equipment, a risk to the public, at a private company.
Not sure which fits? Start with this page.
If it is safe and lawful for you to do so, keep copies of your complaint, your reviews, and the termination paperwork. Do not take anything you are not authorized to access.
Usually what matters is where you worked, not where the company keeps its headquarters. Tell us where you were working when it happened.
Yes, and generally in your favor. New Mexico's Whistleblower Protection Act applies only to public employers, and it is the strongest employment statute in either state. If a government body signs your paycheck, start there.
Possibly. The New Mexico Human Rights Act reaches employers with four or more employees, which is a lower bar than many people expect. And the common-law retaliatory discharge claim has no employer-size requirement at all.
No. Brett Duke is licensed in New Mexico and has represented employees in New Mexico courts for years. Most of what a case requires happens by phone, by email, and in writing, and he appears where the case is filed. Where you worked decides which law applies and where the case belongs — not where the lawyer keeps an office.
Nothing upfront. This office works on a contingency fee and advances the costs of the case. Attorney's fees are owed only if there is a recovery; clients may remain responsible for case costs and expenses.
Some are much shorter than people expect. The sooner you call, the more options are still open. Tell us what happened — free, confidential, and no obligation.