AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• An undocumented worker from Mexico, employed by Performance Painting, Inc. since February 2006 after providing a false social security number, was injured in August 2006, resulting in temporary total disability. The worker was placed at maximum medical improvement (MMI) on August 30, 2007, with a 3% whole-person impairment and permanent lifting restrictions. The employer offered reemployment in a modified capacity in January 2008, which the worker accepted but ceased a few weeks later due to the inability to perform tasks within medical restrictions and a slowdown in work availability. The worker found part-time employment elsewhere, accommodating his medical restrictions. The employer made two return-to-work offers in 2008, which the worker did not accept, leading to a dispute over modifier benefits due to the worker's undocumented status (paras 2-10).

Procedural History

• [Not applicable or not found]

Parties' Submissions

• Worker-Appellant: Contended that the employer should be estopped from asserting a bar to recovery of modifier benefits under Section 52-1-26(C) because the employer knew or should have known of the worker's undocumented status. Argued that the employer's return-to-work offer was pretextual and that denying modifier benefits violated the worker's equal protection rights (para 13).
• Employer/Insurer-Appellees: Argued that the worker's undocumented status precluded rehire and constituted an unreasonable refusal of the return-to-work offer, thus barring the worker from receiving modifier benefits under Section 52-1-26(C) and (D) (para 1).

Legal Issues

• Whether an undocumented worker is entitled to modifier benefits under Section 52-1-26(C) and (D) of the New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Act when the worker's undocumented status precludes rehire.
• Whether the employer should be estopped from asserting the worker's undocumented status as a bar to recovery of modifier benefits.
• Whether denying modifier benefits to an undocumented worker violates the worker's equal protection rights (paras 13, 32-33).

Disposition

• The Court of Appeals affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Judge's denial of Section 52-1-26 modifier benefits to the worker (para 34).

Reasons

• The Court, per Judge Jonathan B. Sutin, held that Section 52-1-26(C) and (D) are inapplicable to cases involving workers with undocumented, illegal immigration status because the Act does not provide for modifier benefits except under the provisions of those statutory subsections. The Court reasoned that an employer is legally forbidden to rehire a worker due to undocumented status, making the Legislature's intent clear that such workers are not entitled to modifier benefits. The Court rejected the worker's arguments for estoppel and equal protection, stating that the worker's undocumented status does not create a category for equal protection application and that fairness and policy arguments do not persuade against the statutory interpretation. The Court concluded that the WCJ's denial of modifier benefits was correct, affirming the decision on grounds different from those expressed by the WCJ (paras 26-34).