New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 11 - LABOR AND WORKERS' COMPENSATION
Chapter 3 - EMPLOYMENT SECURITY
Part 300 - CLAIMS ADMINISTRATION
Section 11.3.300.7 - DEFINITIONS

A. "Additional claim" means a claim application which reactivates a claim during an existing benefit year or other eligibility period and certifies to a period of employment other than self-employment which occurred subsequent to the date of filing the last initial, additional or reopened claim.

B. "Agent state" means any state in which an individual files a claim for benefits from another state or states.

C. "Alternate base period" means the last four completed quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant's benefit year.

D. "Base period and benefit year" means the base period and benefit year applicable under the unemployment compensation law of the paying state.

E. "Base period", also called the "regular base period", means the first four of the last five completed quarters as provided in Subsection A of Section 51-1-42 NMSA 1978 or the alternate base period.

F. "Benefits" means the benefits payable to a claimant with respect to their unemployment, under the unemployment compensation law of any state.

G. "Claimant" means an individual who has filed an initial claim, additional claim or reopened claim for unemployment benefits and this filing is within a benefit year or other eligibility period.

H. "Combined-wage claimant" means a claimant who uses wages from more than one state to establish monetary eligibility for benefits and who has filed a claim under this arrangement.

I. "Educational or training institution or program" means any primary school, secondary school or institution of higher education, public or private, which offers instruction, either for a fee or without charge, and which requires attendance and participation, either in person or online, to receive the instruction.

J. "Emergency unemployment compensation" (EUC) occurs when regular unemployment benefits are exhausted and extended for additional weeks. Unemployment extensions are created by passing new legislation at the federal level, often referred to as an "unemployment extension bill". This new legislation is introduced and passed during high or above average unemployment rates.

K. "Employment" means all services which are covered under the unemployment compensation law of a state, whether expressed in terms of weeks of work or otherwise.

L. "Full-time employment" means the normal full-time hours customarily scheduled and prevailing in the establishment in which an individual is employed, but in no event less than 32 hours per week.

M. "Good cause" means a substantial reason, one that affords a legal excuse, a legally sufficient ground or reason. In determining whether good cause has been shown for permitting an untimely action or excusing the failure to act as required, the department may consider any relevant factors including, but not limited to, whether the party acted in the manner that a reasonably prudent individual would have acted under the same or similar circumstances, whether the party received timely notice of the need to act, whether there was administrative error by the department, whether there were factors outside the control of the party that prevented a timely action, the efforts made by the party to seek an extension of time by promptly notifying the department, the party's physical inability to take timely action, the length of time the action was untimely, and whether any other interested party has been prejudiced by the untimely action. However, good cause cannot be established to accept or permit an untimely action or to excuse the failure to act, as required, that was caused by failure to keep the department directly and promptly informed of the claimant's, employer's or employing unit's correct address. A written decision concerning the existence of good cause need not contain findings of fact on every relevant factor, but the basis for the decision must be apparent from the order.

N. "Initial claim" means a new claim application submitted by the claimant to establish a benefit year and to obtain a determination of weekly and maximum benefit amounts.

O. "Instruction" means all teaching or opportunity for learning whether of a vocational or academic nature.

P. "Interstate benefit payment plan" means the plan approved by the interstate conference of employment security agencies as approved by the United States secretary of labor under which benefits shall be payable to unemployed individuals absent from the state or states in which benefit credits have been accumulated.

Q. "Interstate claimant" means an individual who claims benefits under the unemployment compensation law of one or more liable states through the facilities of an agent state. The term "interstate claimant" shall not include any individual who customarily commutes from a residence in an agent state to work in a liable state unless the department finds that this exclusion would create undue hardship on such claimants in specified areas.

R. "Last employer" means the most recent employer or employing unit from which the claimant separated for reasons other than lack of work; or in the event that the claimant separated from the most recent employer for lack of work, the employer or employing unit before that from which the claimant separated for any reason other than lack of work, provided the claimant has not subsequently worked and earned wages in insured work or bona fide employment other than self-employment in an amount equal to or exceeding five times the claimant's weekly benefit amount.

S. "Liable state" means any state against which a claimant files, through another state, a claim for benefits.

T. "Paying state" means the state against which the claimant is filing that actually issues the benefit payment.

U. "Real estate salesperson" means an individual who is licensed by the New Mexico real estate commission.

V. "Regular base period" means the first four of the last five completed quarters as provided in Subsection A of Section 51-1-42 NMSA 1978.

W. "Reopened claim" means a claim application which reactivates a claim during an existing benefit year or other eligibility period and certifies to a continuous period of unemployment for which the claimant did not file timely continued claims and during which the claimant either remained unemployed or had a period of self-employment since last reporting on this claim.

X. "State" means the states of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Y. "Student" means any individual enrolled in an educational or training institution or program.

Z. "Trade adjustment assistance" (TAA) is a federal program that provides a variety of reemployment services including training and job-searching assistance and benefits to displaced workers who have lost their jobs or suffered a reduction of hours and wages as a result of increased imports or shifts in production outside the United States.

AA. "Trade readjustment allowances" (TRA) are income support payments to individuals who have exhausted unemployment benefits and whose jobs were affected by foreign imports as determined by a certification of group coverage issued by the Department of Labor.

BB. "Transitional claim" means a claim filed to request a determination of eligibility and establishment of a new benefit year having an effective date within a seven-day period immediately following the benefit year ending date and a week for which compensation or waiting week credit was claimed; i.e. continuous certification.

CC. "Wages" means all compensation for services, including commissions and bonuses and the cash value of all compensation in any medium other than cash.

DD. "Week of unemployment" means any week of unemployment as defined in the law of the liable state from which benefits with respect to such week are claimed.