A. Persons employed by and on behalf of the state, except those employed by institutions of higher education, including all officers, shall receive their salaries or wages for services rendered in accordance with rules issued by the department of finance and administration.
B. The department of finance and administration may require the automatic direct deposit of a state employee’s salary or wages into the employee’s account, or into an account established by the department on behalf of the employee, in a financial institution authorized by the United States or one of the several states to receive deposits in the United States. The department of finance and administration shall adopt rules governing the automatic direct deposit of salary or wages. Those rules shall provide the circumstances under which a state employee may, with the approval of the department of finance and administration, withdraw from or elect not to participate in automatic direct deposit.
HISTORY:
Laws 1933, ch. 157, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 10-405; 1953 5-4-5; Laws 1961, ch. 70, § 1; 1975, ch. 128, § 1; 2005, ch. 93, § 1.
Amendment Notes.
The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, substituted “rules; direct deposit” for “payable at least semi-monthly” in the section heading; deleted “It is hereby provided that all” from the former provisions of the section; made the rest of the former provisions Subsection A; in Subsection A, substituted “rules” for “regulations” near the end and added Subsection B.
Notes to Decisions
Generally.
State highway department and state public defender were the same employer for the purpose of the exclusive-remedy provisions, 52-1-6C-E and 52-1-9 NMSA 1978 of the Workers’ Compensation Act, 52-1-1 NMSA 1978 et seq., because employees of the two agencies have access to another state entity to grieve personnel actions per the Personnel Act, 10-9-1 NMSA 1978 et seq., are paid by the state from state funds per 9-6-1 to 9-6-3, 9-6-5 NMSA 1978, and this section, and are employed by agencies of the executive department, headed by gubernatorial appointees per 31-15-4 NMSA 1978 and 67-3-2 NMSA 1978. Singhas v. State Highway Dep't, 1995-NMCA-089, 120 N.M. 474, 902 P.2d 1077, 1995 N.M. App. LEXIS 92 (N.M. Ct. App. 1995), aff'd, 1997-NMSC-054, 124 N.M. 42, 946 P.2d 645, 1997 N.M. LEXIS 405 (N.M. 1997).
Taxpayer was denied an injunction against the payment of salaries for the state traveling auditor because former 1915 Code, § 59, when construed with the general body of law, had the legal effect of providing for the salary and appropriation. Dorman v. Sargent, 1915-NMSC-049, 20 N.M. 413, 150 P. 1021, 1915 N.M. LEXIS 48 (N.M. 1915).
Back pay.
In a teacher’s action to recover back pay for wrongful discharge, neither former 5-4-5, 1953 Comp. (now this section) and former 40A-23-2, 1953 Comp. (now 30-23-2 NMSA 1978) concerned judgments for damages. Thus, there was no merit to the local school board’s contention that the statutes made it a criminal offense for it to pay the teacher his salary for the period in which he did not work because the teacher was not attempting to recover his salary but damages. Sanchez v. Board of Educ., 1969-NMSC-063, 80 N.M. 286, 454 P.2d 768, 1969 N.M. LEXIS 1622 (N.M. 1969).
OPINIONS OF ATTORNEY GENERAL
Analysis
Authority of school district to set pay periods.
Authority of school district to set pay periods.
A school district is not required to pay wages semimonthly to its non-certified school personnel; but it may do so if it wishes. 1988 N.M. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-72, 1988 N.M. AG LEXIS 64.
Compliance.
The department of finance and administration was permitted to implement the cost-of-living increase provided to state employees by chapter 155, section 5(1)(d) of the General Appropriations Act of 1980, on July 5, 1980 rather than on July 1, 1980, since the Act required only that the cost-of-living adjustments be implemented “in the sixty-ninth fiscal year,” the July 1 date operated primarily as the cut-off date for determining whether an employee is entitled to a seven or ten percent increase, and the adjustment was apparently implemented on July 5 because that was the date beginning a pay period which was closest to the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1, and this was the policy which the Department had followed since the change from semimonthly to bi-weekly pay periods. 1980 N.M. Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-39, 1980 N.M. AG LEXIS 2.
Research References and Practice Aids
Cross references.
Semimonthly and monthly pay days, 50-4-2 NMSA 1978.