SENATE BILL 917
47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005
INTRODUCED BY
Leonard Lee Rawson
AN ACT
RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION; REQUIRING REPORTS OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION INSURANCE CARRIERS' AUDITS OF EMPLOYERS AND DISTRIBUTION OF WORK FORCE INFORMATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 52-1-58 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1937, Chapter 92, Section 14, as amended) is amended to read:
"52-1-58. REPORTS TO BE FILED WITH DIRECTOR.--
A. [It is the duty of] Every employer of labor in this state subject to the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act, or the employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier, [to] shall make a written report to the director of all accidental injuries or occupational diseases that occur to any of his employees during the course of their employment and that result in lost time of an employee of more than seven days. A copy of the report shall be sent by the employer to the worker. [Such] Reports shall be made within ten days after [such] accidental injury or ten days after notification to the employer of employee disability upon forms approved by the director and shall contain such information concerning the accident or injury as may be required by the director.
B. Upon request of the director, [it is also the duty of] every workers' compensation self-insurer and insurance carrier [to] shall file with the director closing reports upon the closing of a claim on forms approved by the director. Annual reports [will] shall be required on a form approved by the director.
C. Annual reports to the director required in Subsection B of this section from an insurance carrier shall include identification of employers that significantly underestimated for insurance premium setting purposes the number of workers that the employer anticipated employing during the policy period and on whom workers' compensation insurance coverage is required during the period of coverage by the insurance policy. If an insurance carrier audits an employer at any time during the policy period or more than one time per year, a report shall be submitted by the insurance carrier to the director within thirty days of the day on which the audit is completed if the audit discovers a significant underestimate in the number of workers that the employer intended to employ. The director shall adopt rules to implement this subsection, including establishing the meaning of "significantly underestimated" as it applies to employers of different work force sizes."
Section 2. Section 52-1-62 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1937, Chapter 92, Section 18, as amended) is amended to read:
"52-1-62. DIRECTOR TO ENFORCE WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT.--
A. For the purpose of enforcing the Workers' Compensation Act, [there are hereby conferred upon] the director has the following powers and duties:
[A.] (1) when [any] an employer subject to the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act fails to comply with Section 52-1-4 NMSA 1978 relating to the filing of [an undertaking in the nature of insurance] evidence of workers' compensation insurance coverage or sufficient security for the payment of benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act, the director [is empowered to institute] may initiate in his own name an action in the district court of Santa Fe county or the county where the employer resides or has his principal office or place of business to enjoin the employer from continuing his business operations until he has complied with the provisions of Section 52-1-4 NMSA 1978, and upon a showing of the [facts above recited] failure to comply with the requirements of Section 52-1-4 NMSA 1978, the court shall grant such injunction. In any such action, the attorney general or district attorney for the judicial district where the action is brought shall represent the director; and
[B.] (2) for the purpose of ascertaining the [correctness] accuracy of any reported wage expenditure, the number of [men] persons employed and other information necessary in the administration of the Workers' Compensation Act, the director may, upon his own initiative or upon request of any interested party, hold hearings and subpoena all books, records and payrolls of [any] an employer subject to the provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act [which] that show [or reflect in any way upon] the amount of wage expenditures of [such] the employer or other facts, data or statistics [appertaining] pertaining to the purposes of [that] the Worker's Compensation Act.
B. The director shall provide to the taxation and revenue department and the labor department the names, addresses and contact information of employers that significantly underestimate for workers' compensation insurance premium setting purposes the number of workers that the employer employed during the policy coverage period."
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