<\/p>\n
Update to this column:\u00a0 On October 22, 2019, it was announced that Loretta Lopez had been appointed director of the New Mexico Workers\u2019 Compensation Administration (WCA). Lopez was most recently deputy director of the Risk Management at the state\u2019s General Services Department. She is the first woman appointed to head the WCA.<\/p>\n
Here’s the column:<\/p>\n
When the Lujan Grisham administration announced that all the cabinet positions had been filled, some of us were quite surprised. What about the Worker\u2019s Compensation Administration?<\/p>\n
The WCA has had no director since the previous director resigned last December. Deputy director Verily Jones has been acting director ever since. That\u2019s a pretty long stint in an interim position.<\/p>\n
By the time you read this, I hope a new director has been appointed. At an August 14 meeting of the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Council, it was announced that candidates for the position had been interviewed, but there was no further word. At least the governor had appointed new members to the Council.<\/p>\n
The WCA has always been a stepchild in state government. Most people, regrettably including legislators, don\u2019t know what it\u2019s for. When originally created, the agency was \u201cadministratively attached\u201d to the then- Department of Labor, so it was \u2013 mistakenly — commonly viewed as a division of that department.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also confusing that the head of the agency is called director, not secretary, and so has not always been treated as a cabinet member.<\/p>\n
Not having full authority, Jones has been unable to fill positions requiring a director\u2019s appointment, such as the agency\u2019s general counsel. This has limited the agency\u2019s functioning.<\/p>\n
The administration is aware of the WCA. Staff members got their picture taken with the governor at a \u201cConstituent Day\u201d early in August. And somehow a workers’ compensation judge\u2019s reappointment was accomplished, announced August 23. The term of Judge Leonard Padilla was to expire at the end of August. Since Jones did not have authority to reappoint him, we presume there was approval from higher up.<\/p>\n
The agency\u2019s reason for existing is that workers\u2019 compensation is an intricate system involving several competing interests. Long experience shows the system has to be regulated to work effectively and fairly.<\/p>\n
Workers\u2019 comp covers the cases of workers injured at work, paying for medical care and compensation benefits. Almost all employers are required to have workers\u2019 comp insurance as a condition of staying in business.<\/p>\n
The WCA is partly an administrative law court that adjudicates workers’ comp disputes, including mandatory mediation to reduce formal litigation.<\/p>\n
The agency\u2019s regulatory functions include enforcing the insurance coverage requirement, maintaining a fee schedule for healthcare services, providing workplace safety services, an ombudsman program to answer the questions of confused injured workers, and other tasks that only make sense if you understand the system, which most people don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
No wonder the legislature has made a habit of skimming off some the agency\u2019s money every year.<\/p>\n
The WCA is funded by an annoying little tax, called a fee, paid by employers and workers: $2 deducted from paychecks once per quarter matched by $2.30 from the employer, set aside in a earmarked fund. The legislative intent was that revenue will increase as the workforce grows, so the agency can expand to respond to the needs of employers and workers — for example, by employing more ombudsmen or regulatory compliance staff.<\/p>\n
Revenue has grown from about $7 million 20 years ago to about $11 million currently. But in the annual budget process, the legislature has never let the agency spend all the money. So a \u201csurplus\u201d was always left, and, year after year, the legislature moved the \u201csurplus\u201d somewhere else. In the last few years, it\u2019s been about $1.5 million annually to the department now called Workforce Solutions, formerly Labor.<\/p>\n
The newly reconstituted Advisory Council has adopted a formal resolution asking the legislature to stop this.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always thought that if the fee generates more money than the legislature thinks the agency needs, the legislature should reduce the fee, rather than misleading the public and giving the \u201csurplus\u201d to somebody else. But far better would be for legislators to understand what this agency does and let it be funded properly to do its job.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Update to this column:\u00a0 On October 22, 2019, it was announced that Loretta Lopez had been appointed director of the New Mexico Workers\u2019 Compensation Administration (WCA). Lopez was most recently deputy director of the Risk Management at the state\u2019s … Continue reading