Senator wants protection for whistleblowers

Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park, thinks she has found a hole in the ethics reform proposals of the governor and House Democrats. As a result, she’s proposing her own legislation.

Senate Bill 1,043 would create a state whistleblower law designed to encourage employees to report illegal activity.

“I thoroughly expected the governor’s task force to address protection for public employees,” Beffort said in a news release. “It did not protect them, so I am protecting them with the Whistleblower Protection Act.”

“New Mexico has experienced serious ethical breaches,” she said. “… I believe other unethical breaches will be uncovered if public employees are given protection to come forward.”

Under the bill, a grievance procedure will be implemented that will include a hearing with the Department of Labor’s Human Rights Commission. An employee could seek a trial in district court instead of a hearing with the commission.

If retaliation is proven, the court may award actual damages, punitive damages and attorney fees.

“We need to protect employees and make them feel free to come forth with information they know about in their public offices. They will feel protected if they know there is a fair grievance in place to protect them,” Beffort said.

It would be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $1,000 and a year in prison, for a person involved in the grievance procedure to make public any of the information from the grievance procedure.