2018 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 10 - Public Officers and Employees
Article 9 - Personnel
Section 10-9-3 - Definitions.

As used in the Personnel Act:

A. "director" means the personnel director;

B. "board" means the personnel board;

C. "service" means the state personnel service created by the Personnel Act, and includes all positions covered by the Personnel Act;

D. "position" means any state office, job, or position of employment;

E. "employer" means any authority having power to fill positions, in an agency;

F. "agency" means any state department, bureau, division, branch or administrative group which is under the same employer;

G. "class" means a group of positions similar enough in powers and responsibilities that they can be covered by the same qualifications and rate of pay;

H. "test" means a test of the qualifications, fitness and ability, and includes tests that are written, oral, physical or in the form of a demonstration of skill or any combination thereof;

I. "employee" means a person in a position in the service who has completed his probationary period; and

J. "probationer" means a person in a position in the service who is still in the probationary period for that position.

History: 1953 Comp., § 5-4-30, enacted by Laws 1961, ch. 240, § 3.

Probationer. — Worker who had not completed the probationary period upon reentry into the classified service was not an "employee" within the meaning of Section 10-9-3 NMSA 1978 thus not entitled to appeal rights. Clark v. N.M. Children, Youth & Families Dep't, 1999-NMCA-114, 128 N.M. 18, 988 P.2d 888.

Employer. — The regulation and licensing department was an employer within the definition found in the State Personnel Act (10-9-3E NMSA 1978) since it, not the New Mexico real estate commission (NMREC), hired the employee, employee's title fell under the department, employee's hiring was approved by the superintendent of the department, and the power to control the administration of NMREC necessarily includes the hiring and firing of its employees. N.M. Regulation & Licensing Dep't v. Lujan, 1999-NMCA-059, 127 N.M. 233, 979 P.2d 744.

Effect on person contemplated by 28-15-1 NMSA 1978. — If a person contemplated by 28-15-1 NMSA 1978 has gained the status of an "employee" as that term is defined by this section and the personnel board rules, he will have additional rights under the state personnel board rules that a "probationer" would not. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-108.

Employees not entitled to participate. — Since the employees of an intercommunity gas association worked for a corporation controlled by three separate municipalities rather than for the state itself, such employees were not entitled to participate under the provisions of the State Personnel Act. 1966 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-07.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 81A C.J.S. States § 86.