NEW MEXICO CONSTITUTION ARTICLE XI. Railroads-Safety appliances-State corporation commission The commission SECTION 7. Power to require safety appliances.-- * shall also have power and be charged with the duty to require all intrastate railways, transportation companies or common carriers, to provide such reasonable safety appliances in connection with all equipment, as may be necessary and proper for the safety of its employees and the public, and as are now or may be required by the Federal laws, rules and regulations governing interstate commerce. ARTICLE XVII.—Mine regulations-Inspector SECTION 1. Office created.-There shall be an inspector of mines, who shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, for a term of four years, and whose duties and salary shall be as prescribed by law. SEC. 2. Laws to be enacted.-The legislature shall enact laws requiring the proper ventilation of mines, the construction and maintenance of escapement shafts or slopes, and the adoption and use of appliances necessary to protect the health and secure the safety of employees therein. No children under the age of fourteen years shall be employed in mines. ARTICLE XX.-Employment of children-Liability of railroad companies--Public works SECTION 10. Duty as to laws.-The legislature shall enact suitable laws for the regulation of the employment of children. SEC. 16. Acts of fellow servants, etc.-Every person, receiver or corporation owning or operating a railroad within this State shall be liable in damages for Injury to, or the death of, any person in its employ, resulting from the negligence, in whole or in part, of said owner or operator or of any of the officers, agents or employees thereof, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in whole or in part, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track roadbed, works or other equipment. An action for negligently causing the death of an employee as above provided shall be maintained by the executor or administrator for the benefit of the employee's surviving widow or husband and children; or if none, then his parents; or if none, then the next of kin dependent upon said deceased. The amount recovered may be distributed as provided by law. Any contract or agreement made in advance of such injury with any employee waiving or limiting any right to recover such damages shall be void. This provision shall not be construed to affect the provisions of section two of article twenty-two of this constitution, being the article upon schedule. SEC. 19. Eight-hour day.-Eight hours shall constitute a day's work in all cases of employment by and on behalf of the State or any county or municipality thereof. ARTICLE XXII.—Liability of railroad companies for injuries to employees SECTION 2. Railroad act of 1908 to be in force.-Until otherwise provided by law, the act of Congress of the United States, entitled "An act relating to liability of common carriers, by railroads to their employees in certain cases," approved April twenty-second, nineteen hundred and eight, and all acts amendatory thereof, shall be and remain in force in this State to the same extent that they have been in force in the Territory of New Mexico. ANNOTATED STATUTES-1915 Wages as preferred claims-In insolvency of corporations SECTION 973. Amount.-[Wages of laborers and workmen for work done within the next four months preceding the institution of proceedings shall be a first and prior lien on all assets of an insolvent corporation.] SEC. 974. Liens.-[The lien of a chattel mortgage recorded more than two months before proceedings begun is not affected by the above; nor is a chattel mortgage recorded within such two months, to secure money loaned or goods purchased within that period.] Contracts of employment-Repayment, etc., of advances SECTION 1572. Fraud in procuring advances.-Any person or persons, who under the pretense of hiring to do work for any other person or persons who shall obtain in advance and on account of promise of work to be done by such person or persons, any goods or money, and afterwards being able so to do willfully, fails to perform the work agreed by such person or persons to be performed; be punished before any justice of the peace by a fine of not less than fifty dollars, and no more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than six months or both: Provided, however, If before, or at the time said labor was to be done or performed said person or persons shall refund said money or pay for any goods so obtained and interest on the same, this law shall not apply. Blacklisting SECTION 1803. Blacklisting forbidden.—It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, firm or corporation employing labor in this State, after having dis charged any person from service, to prevent or attempt to prevent by word, sign, or writing of any kind whatever, any such discharged employee from obtaining employment from any person or persons, firm or corporation: Provided, That any employer may give the true reasons either by writing or otherwise, for the discharge of any such employee. SECS. 1804, 1805. Violations.-[Violations of preceding section are punishable by fine, $100 to $1,000. Damages and an attorney's fee may also be recovered.] Protection of employees as voters SECTION 2050. Discharging or threatening discharge.—Every officer or agent of any corporation, company, or association and every individual having under his control or in his employ any persons entitled to vote at any election who shall directly or indirectly discharge or threaten to discharge any such employee on account of his political opinions or belief, or who shall, by any corrupt or unlawful means, procure or attempt to procure or induce any such employee to vote or refrain from voting for any candidate, party ticket, proposition, question, or constitutional amendment at any election shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months or both such fine and imprisonment. SEC. 2053. Bribery, threats, etc.-It shall be unlawful for any corporation organized or doing business under or by virtue of the laws of this State, directly or indirectly, by or through any of its officers or agents, or any other person, to influence or attempt to influence the vote of any voter at any election by the unlawful use of money belonging to such corporation, or by discharging or threatening to discharge any employee of such corporation on account of his political opinions or belief, or by any corrupt and unlawful means whatsoever to induce or persuade any employee or other person entitled to vote at any election to vote or refrain from voting for any candidate, party ticket, proposition, question, or constitutional amendment. Any violation of the provisions of this section by a corporation shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, and any person by or through whom such act is committed shall be punished by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Wages-Exemption-Garnishment SECTION 2311. Amount.-[The personal earnings of a head of a family for 60 days are exempt if it is shown that they are necessary to the support of his wife or family; but this does not apply to debts for manual labor or for necessaries of life.] SEC. 2353. Suits outside State.-[If garnishment of personal earnings is sought In a suit outside the State, debtor and creditor both being residents of the State and service could have been obtained in the county of residence of the debtor, the suitor shall be liable for attorney's fee, costs of debtor, including travel, board, witnesses, etc., and $5 a day for time spent. He shall also be entitled to the amount exempted by the law of New Mexico, and to an attorney's fee in any damage suit brought in case the claim was successfully defended.] Bonds of employces-Foreign guaranty companies SECTIONS 2866, 2867. Local agents required.-[No employer may require employees to procure bonds from a foreign guaranty company unless such company has a representative within the State on whom process can be served and it has otherwise complied with the laws of the State. Employers making contracts or charging fees in violation of this act are subject to a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000, in the discretion of the jury.] Mine regulations SECTIONS 3490-3502. Maps, weighing coal, etc.-[Maps are required, hoisting machinery and boilers must be inspected, scales kept accessible if mining is paid for by weight, a checkweighman is authorized, and penalties are provided for negligence or failure to comply with the law.] Payment of wages in scrip—Company stores SECTION 3503. Scrip, etc., to be redeemable in money.-It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, company, or corporation owning or operating coal or other mines or transacting any kind of general mercantile business in the State of New Mexico to sell, give, deliver, or in any manner issue directly or indirectly, to any person employed by him or it in payment for wages due for labor or as advances on wages of labor not due, any script [scrip], check, draft, or order, or evidence of indebtedness payable or redeemable otherwise than in their face value in money; and such person, acting member or agent of any firm, acting agent or agents or officers of any company or corporation [or] firm who shall violate any of the provisions of this section, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, nor less than two hundred and fifty dollars, and the amount of any scrip, token, check, draft, order, or other evidence of indebtedness sold, given, delivered, or in any manner issued in violation of the provisions of this section shall recover in money at the suit of any holder thereof against the person, firm, company, or corporation selling, giving, or delivering or in any manner issuing the same. SEC. 3504. Exemption. The provisions of the preceding section shall not apply in any instance where the issuance of scrip, check, draft, or order, is upon the voluntary request or at the instance of the party to whom issued, but only in cases where the employer seeks to compel, coerce, or influence the employee against his will to accept the same. SEC. 3505. Restricting trade.-Whoever compels or in any manner seeks to compel or coerce an employee or any person, firm, company or corporation to purchase goods or supplies from any particular person, firm, company or corporation shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding sixty days, or both at the discretion of the court. Mine regulations SECTIONS 3507-3513. Safety-[These sections relate to the operation of coal mines, establishing safety provisions as to exits, hoists, lights, ventilation, timbers, blasting, interference with apparatus or equipment, etc.] Hospital service for employees SECTION 3518. Pesthouse to be erected, when.-All mining companies or other corporations doing business in this State who receive any money from their 105446°-25 47 employees for the purpose of employing a physician to attend to and render medical aid to any of said employees during sickness, or to enforce sanitary regulations for the benefit of said employees, are hereby required to erect and maintain a proper and suitable pesthouse not less than one and one-half miles from any town, mining camp, settlement, or village where the headquarters of such company may be, or where the greater portion of said employees may labor, for the purpose of taking proper care of, and quarantining any and all of said employees who may be affected with any contagious or infectious diseases and any company or corporation violating any of the provisions of this act [,] upon proper proceedings and conviction thereunder, shall be fined as set forth in section 1741 [in any sum not less than three dollars nor more than eighty dollars], and in addition thereto shall be liable for all damages occasioned by their violation of the law. SEC. 3521. Medical attendance to be provided, when.-Whenever any employee of any corporation, person or persons engaged in the management and operation of any smelting works in the State of New Mexico, shall become disabled and rendered unfitted for labor by reason of lead poisoning, which said lead poisoning shall be the result and consequence of said employee's performance and proper discharge of said employee's duties in and about said smelting works, said employee shall be provided with and receive all proper medical attendance, medicines and sustenance during such disability, at the expense of said corporation, person or persons so employing him. SEC. 3522. Action for recovery.-If any such corporation, person or persons engaged in the management and operation of any smelting works in the State of New Mexico shall fail to provide such employee with all proper medical attendance, medicines and sustenance during such disability of said employee then the reasonable expense of providing such employee with all proper medical attendance, medicines and sustenance during such disability of said employee may be recovered from such corporation, person or persons so engaged in the management and operation of smelting works as aforesaid, in an action at law by and in the name of any person or persons rendering or providing such employee with the said medical attendance, medicines and sustenance. Miners' Hospital SECTION 5106. Free hospital.-The Miners' Hospital of New Mexico is intended and meant to be for the free treatment and care of resident miners of the State of New Mexico, who may become sick or injured in the line of their occupation; and all lodging and medical care shall be free of charge. as shall all other expenses incurred by the patient, except in cases where such patient is possessed of property and means sufficient to enable him to pay the actual costs and charges incurred by his attendance at such hospital, in which case the board of trustees may make provision for his being charged, and paying such expenses incurred. Provided, however, The said trustees may take in other patients for treatment and care upon the payment of all expenses therefor, by said patients, when the same may be so received and treated without excluding any miners from said hospital. Mine regulations-Inspector SECTION 5362. Appointment.-[The governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint an inspector from a list of eligibles secured by examination.] SEC. 5363. Qualifications.—[The appointee must be 30 years of age, a resident for one year next preceding appointment, have had 5 years' experience in coal mines, 3 in New Mexico, and have a practical knowledge of mining operations.] SEC. 5364 (as amended 1919, ch. 84). Bond; salary.-[A bond of $4,000 is required. The salary is $2,400 per annum.] SEC. 5365. Duties.-[The inspector must inspect all mines in the State as often as he thinks necessary, investigate accidents jeopardizing or de-stroying life, inspect machinery, work places, etc., and indicate changes required to be made for the safe operation of the mines. He is to establish a system of signals; and makes annual reports as to mines in the State, statis ties, conditions, etc. He is to be furnished with the necessary office and testing equipment and supplies. Refusal to permit inspection is a misdemeanor.] ACTS OF 1917 CHAPTER 16.-Payment of wages-Semimonthly pay day SECTION 1. Scope of law.-All railway, mining and manufacturing corporations operating in this State shall designate regular days, not more than sixteen days apart, as days fixed for the payment of wages to all employees thereof, paid in this State, and shall post and maintain notices, printed or typewritten, in plain type in at least two conspicuous places where said notices can be seen by said employees as they go to and from their work, setting forth said days as "pay days." And every such corporation shall pay on each of said days to its employees in lawful money of the United States, or in negotiable bank check, payable on demand, of the date of said day, all wages due said employees up to such pay day, except it may withhold wages for not more than sixteen days' labor due any employee remaining in the service of such corporation. SEC. 2. Violations.-Every such corporation violating any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500 for each offense. ACTS OF 1919 * CHAPTER 85.-Factory, etc., regulations-Department of public welfare SECTION 10 (as amended 1921, ch. 145). Who to inspect.-The State department of public welfare shall have power to investigate the effect of localities, employments, and other conditions upon the public health; to inspect public buildings, institutions and premises and industries; * to regulate the sanitation of factories, workshops, in CHAPTER 140-Employment of labor-Anarchists SECTION 1. What unlawful.-[It is unlawful for any person to commit or cause any act aimed at the destruction of organized government.] SEC. 5. Employers are liable.-Any person, firm, or corporation employing or having in his employ any person or persons knowing him or them to be actively engaged in advocating, teaching, or encouraging the violation of any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than sixty days nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. CHAPTER 153.-Garnishment of wages SECTION 1. Amount.-[Not over 20 per cent of the current wages of an employee may be garnished if such wages do not exceed $75 per month. If they exceed $75, in addition to the above, the full amount of such excess may be taken. No exemption is allowed if the debt was incurred for necessaries of life, or if the debtor is not the head of a family, or if he is a head and his family does not reside in the State.] SEC. 2. Public employees.-[Public officials can be summoned as garnishees only where a judgment has been secured against an employee of the State or municipality, school district, etc. Such employees have the exemption rights provided in section 1.] ACTS OF 1921 CHAPTER 10.-Company stores SECTION 1. Coercion as to trade.-It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation employing labor in this State, or any agent, superintendent, or boss of said person, firm, or corporation, by threat, direct or indirect, or in any other manner, to coerce or compel any employee to buy goods of or trade with any store, business, or commissary, or to discharge or threaten to discharge any employee for failure so to do. SEC. 2. Violations.-[Violations are punishable by fine, $50 to $200, or imprisonment 30 to 90 days, or both.] |