Your Rights and Responsibilities Under New Mexico Law 

For informational purposes only, not intended to be an exhaustive listing

• The New Mexico's Workers' Compensation Act is based on "no fault" law, which means that if you experience an injury as the result of an accident during the course and scope of your job duties you are eligible to receive benefits regardless of who was at fault, with certain exceptions, such as:
• You were intoxicated at the time of the injury
• You injured yourself on purpose or while trying to injure someone else
• You were injured by another person for personal reasons
• Your injury occurred during horseplay
• You are injured while performing an activity you were specifically told not to perform by your employer
• You have the right to receive medical care to treat your workplace injury or illness. There is no time limit for this medical care.
• If the authorized treating health care provider has removed you from work, or given work restrictions that your employer can not accommodate, you may have an entitlement to lost time benefits.
• You have the right to hire an attorney at any time to help you with your claim. If you do hire an attorney, you will be responsible for all of the attorney's fees, up to the current maximum of $16,500.00 + tax. The remaining amount will be paid by the employer/insurer. A judge must approve attorney fees prior to any payments being made.
• You have the right to receive ombudsman assistance if you do not have an attorney.
• An ombudsman is an employee of the Workers' Compensation Administration, who has been trained in the field of workers' compensation law and can provide free assistance to injured workers, employers or other interested parties. They are required to maintain a neutral position when providing information or facilitating communication.
• An ombudsman can be reached by contacting the Workers' Compensation Administration.
• You have the right for your claim information to be kept confidential.
• In most cases, the contents of you claim file can not be obtained by others. Some parties have a right to know what is in your file; such has your employer, the Workers' Compensation Administration, etc.