Legislators Hear State Violates Workers’ ADA Rights – CWA 7076 Letter to Governor Lujan Grisham Demanding Action

Organization Press release – From The Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 7076

Santa Fe, NM — Following a contentious hearing at the Interim Legislative Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee on Wednesday, November 5, Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 7076 sent a letter to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham demanding she address ongoing issues with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations at State agencies.

(A copy of the letter can be found at the end of this article.)

Legislators on the HHS Committee responded with disbelief and shock about how employees with disabilities are mistreated at State Agencies, and with concern about the potential legal liabilities of these practices.

Representative Kathleen Cates (D-District 44) said “Shame on us. This law has been in place for 35 years. There is no reason at all for the state not to be in compliance.”

At the hearing, the Union presented the stories of multiple disabled State employees, whose civil rights have been violated by the State not providing appropriate ADA accommodations or adequate workplace accessibility.

During the presentation, Sarah Bowman, Overdose Prevention Coordinator for the New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) testified that “it took over six months before [she] received any formal response” to her ADA request. 

Union representatives and other public commenters gave examples of ADA violations, including:

• denial of reasonable accommodations; 
• inappropriate, discriminatory, and unprofessional comments by State human resources staff and supervisors; 
• lack of emergency safety procedures to protect the public and workers; 
• State facilities without operational automatic doors, preventing workers from accessing worksites or restrooms; 
• workers advised to take unpaid time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), leading to needless interruptions in State operations; and 
• retaliatory threats of rescinding “off-the-book” accommodations. 

Local 7076 also reports that 80% of surveyed employees with a disability considered quitting due to the difficulty receiving adequate ADA accommodations. 

State Personnel Office (SPO) Director Dylan Lange also presented a brief overview of the State’s process for dealing with ADA requests for employees, during which he revealed that there are no ADA training requirements for State agencies, and no consistent statewide policies or procedures.

Director Lange denied SPO’s responsibility to ensure State agencies comply with ADA-related employment practices, despite language on SPO’s website asserting that they “guide agencies in administering fair and equitable employment.” 

Lange also stated that two ADA trainings were conducted in 2024, but failed to mention these were the only classes that have been provided since 2020.

“According to an information request completed in August 2025, only about half of the State agencies we represent have participated in one of these training sessions,” says Megan Green, President of Local 7076. 

During contract bargaining over the past year, Local 7076 representatives repeatedly provided Director Lange with specific cases and detailed information about discriminatory practices against workers with disabilities.

“He told us that SPO could not direct agencies to correct their behavior and that employees and the Union could pursue legal action against the State to correct issues,” says Lindsey Hurst, Local 7076 Executive Vice President. “He advised the Union that workers’ best remedy would be to sue the state via EEOC complaints.” Some individuals have pursued litigation against the State, resulting in costly settlements.

“We hear a lot about liability costs in this committee in particular,” said Representative Marianna Anaya (D-District 18) at the hearing. “I think part of this is incredibly frustrating because we always hear complaints about how high liability costs are when nobody is doing anything to prevent the liability costs in the first place.” 

Senator Elisabeth Stefanics (D-District 39) agreed: “I’m rather surprised that the State would want to open itself up to all of these lawsuits, all of these complaints. And I know that if risk management were aware of all the individual cases and all those people started coming forward with a complaint and asking for a settlement, something would be done.”

“Our Stewards are flooded with reports of abuse and discrimination and pleas for help,” says Sunny Gonzales, Local 7067 Steward at DOH and Chair of the Local’s Disability Justice Committee. “We started the Disability Justice Committee in September 2024 because we were seeing patterns of discrimination and likely ADA violations across the agencies we represent.”

In April, HB 120 “Accessibility of State Agencies” was vetoed by Governor Lujan Grisham who stated, “I wholeheartedly support the efforts to ensure that our State buildings and websites are accessible to everyone, regardless of disability. This is why my Administration is already complying with the applicable ADA standards.” 

Committee Vice Chair Linda López (D-District 11) noted that the Governor’s veto message asked for a report on accessibility and asked Rep. Cates if she was aware of any report sent to the Governor.

“No, I am not,” replied Cates. “But I will tell you the veto message was written on a non-accessible document.”

“‘It’s too hard’ just doesn’t work anymore,” said Representative Joanne Ferrary (D-District 37). “It’s our obligation to do the right thing and to make it so that we can attract more people and keep more people.”

Committee Chair Thompson agreed: “Let’s use some common sense and some humanity and say ‘these are people.’”

Signed into law in 1990, the ADA is the world’s first comprehensive law protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities, including their rights in the workplace.

The landmark legislation protects the terms and conditions of employment of an estimated 43 million Americans, including the 17,000 employees who work in the State‘s classified service.

CWA Local 7076 represents thousands of state employees at 13 agencies under the executive branch.

CWA 7076 Letter to New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham