Section 50-1-3 - [Powers and duties of director of the labor and industrial division.]
50-1-3. [Powers and duties of director of the labor and industrial division.]
Said commissioner [director of the labor and industrial division] shall inform himself of all laws of the state for the protection of life and limb in any of the industries of the state, all laws regulating the hours of labor, the employment of minors, the payment of wages and all other laws enacted for the protection, health and benefit of employees, and thereunder foster, promote and develop the welfare of wage earners, advance opportunities for profitable employment; require, acquire and disseminate useful information on all subject [subjects] connected with labor, and assist in the enforcement of the workman's compensation laws and the employers' liability acts of the state. He shall have the power and authority, when in his judgment he deems it necessary, to take assignment of wage claims and prosecute actions for collection of wages or other claims or demands of employees or ex-employees, who are financially unable to employ counsel in cases in which in the judgment of the commissioner [director] such claims and demands are valid and enforceable in the courts. It shall be the duty of said labor commissioner to enforce all labor laws in the state of New Mexico, the enforcement of which is not specifically and exclusively vested in any other officer, board or commission, state or federal, and whenever after due inquiry, he shall be satisfied that any such law has been violated or that any employee or ex-employee financially unable to employ counsel, has a just, valid and enforceable claim for wages or other claims or demands, he shall present the facts to the district attorney of the county in which such violation occurred or wage claim accrued, and it shall be the duty of such district attorney to prosecute the same. Said labor commissioner shall also prosecute claims arising as between employment agencies and those seeking employment when in his judgment they are valid and enforceable in the courts.