A. The workers' compensation administration shall be in the charge of a director, who shall be appointed by the governor for a term of five years with the consent of the senate. The appointed director shall serve and have the authority of that office during the period of time prior to final action by the senate confirming or rejecting the appointment. The appointment shall be made on the basis of administrative ability, education, training and experience relevant to the duties of the director. Upon the expiration of the term, the director shall continue to serve until the successor is appointed and qualified. Before entering upon the duties, the director shall subscribe to an oath to faithfully discharge the duties of the office. The director shall devote full time to the duties of the office.

B. The director shall appoint necessary workers' compensation judges. Workers' compensation judges shall not be subject to the provisions of the Personnel Act [Chapter 10, Article 9 NMSA 1978] except as provided by Subsection C of this section. Workers' compensation judges shall be appointed for an initial term of one year and shall be compensated at a rate equal to ninety percent of that of district court judges. Ninety days prior to the expiration of a workers' compensation judge's term, the director shall review his performance. If approved by the director, the workers' compensation judge may be reappointed to a subsequent five-year term.

C. Workers' compensation judges shall be lawyers licensed to practice law in this state and shall have a minimum five years' experience as a practicing lawyer. They shall devote their entire time to their duties and shall not engage in the private practice of law and shall not hold any other position of trust or profit or engage in any occupation or business interfering with or inconsistent with the discharge of their duties as workers' compensation judges. A workers' compensation judge shall be required to conform to all canons of the code of judicial conduct as adopted by the supreme court, except canon 21-900 of that code. Violation of those canons shall be exclusive grounds for dismissal prior to the expiration of his term. Any complaints against a workers' compensation judge shall be filed with the state personnel board, which shall report its findings to the director.

D. Workers' compensation judges shall have the same immunity from liability for their adjudicatory actions as district court judges.

History: Laws 1986, ch. 22, § 28; 1987, ch. 235, § 46; 1987, ch. 342, § 31; 1989, ch. 263, § 71; 1990 (2nd S.S.), ch. 2, § 54; 2004, ch. 118, § 2.

The 2004 amendment, effective July 1, 2004, deleted in Subsection A "The director's salary shall be equal to ninety-five percent of that of district court judges." This sentence was amended to change "district court judges" to "court of appeals judges", however, the governor line-item vetoed the entire sentence and a four thousand four hundred forty-six dollar appropriation.

The 1990 (2nd S.S.) amendment, effective January 1, 1991, in Subsection A, substituted "administration" for "division" near the beginning of the first sentence and added the last sentence; in Subsection B, deleted language regarding the appointment of workers' compensation judges between September 1, 1986 and April 1, 1987, and substituted "equal to" for "not more than"; and in Subsection C, substituted "all canons of" for "canons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 of", "except Canon 21-900 of that code. Violation" for "and violation", and the final sentence for language regarding dismissal of judges.

No jurisdiction over claims between insurers. — The workers' compensation administration does not have jurisdiction over a controversy between workers' compensation insurers that has no effect on the rights of the worker. Jones v. Holiday Inn Express, 2014-NMCA-082.

Where worker sustained a back injury; thirteen days before the accident, the employer changed worker's compensation carriers from plaintiff to defendant; unaware of the change, the employer's manager gave notice to plaintiff of worker's claim for benefits; without researching whether the employer was insured through plaintiff, plaintiff accepted the claim and began paying benefits to worker; plaintiff also erred by miscalculating the amount of benefits which gave worker 700 weeks instead of 500 weeks of benefits; when plaintiff discovered the error, plaintiff filed a complaint with the workers' compensation administration requesting that the workers' compensation judge order defendant to pay future benefits to worker and to reimburse the benefits paid by plaintiff, the workers' compensation administration lacked jurisdiction over the controversy because the controversy did not involve or affect worker's claim for compensation. Jones v. Holiday Inn Express, 2014-NMCA-082.

A workers' compensation judge pro tem may be appointed by the director under statutory and constitutional authority. Carrillo v. Compusys, Inc., 1997-NMCA-003, 122 N.M. 720, 930 P.2d 1172.