New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 2 - PUBLIC FINANCE
Chapter 80 - PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT
Part 1000 - DISABILITY RETIREMENT BENEFITS
Section 2.80.1000.7 - DEFINITIONS
Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
For purposes of disability retirement the following definitions shall apply:
A. "Commensurate" employment means that the applicant is able to engage in some profitable employment or enterprise in the state of New Mexico, which approximates to a substantial degree the applicant's pre-injury compensation but is not necessarily equal to the applicant's pre-injury employment.
B. "Course of the member's performance of duty" means place or activity for which the employer's business requires the presence of the employee, but shall not include travel or time on the way to assume the duties of employment or travel or time leaving such duties, except when the employee is temporarily assigned to a destination other than his or her normal work station or is within the "special errand" rule, in which case such time will be considered to be in the course of employment. Mere presence on the employer's premises while coming to or going from the job shall not establish this element unless the member has also assumed or is performing job duties.
C. "Currently employed, contributing employee of an affiliated public employer," in the case of an applicant for duty disability benefits, means the employment and contribution status on the date the disability was incurred.
D. "Likely to be permanent" means that the weight of the medical evidence presented indicates that the applicant has either reached maximum medical improvement and the disability will probably last at least until the applicant reaches the age at which he or she will become eligible for normal retirement or that the medical information supports a determination of permanent disability, even though maximum medical improvement has not been reached.
E. "Solely and exclusively" means the member's work is so substantial a factor of the disability that the disability would not have occurred at the time without it and a pre-existing condition is not a significant contributing factor material to the disability.
F. "Totally incapacitated" means inability, as a result of either sudden injury or illness or the cumulative long-term effects of injury or illness, to work the member's regular work week.
