New Mexico Statutes Chapter 13. Public Purchases and Property § 13-4-14. Payment of wages from funds withheld; list of contractors violating act; additional right of wage earners

A. The director shall certify to the contracting agency the names of persons or firms the director has found to have failed to pay wages or fringe benefits due employees under the Public Works Minimum Wage Act and the amount of arrears. The contracting agency shall pay or cause to be paid to the affected laborers and mechanics, from any accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contract or designated for the project, three times the amount of any wages or fringe benefits found due to the workers pursuant to the Public Works Minimum Wage Act. The director shall, after notice to the affected persons, distribute a list to all departments of the state giving the names of persons or firms the director has found to have willfully violated the Public Works Minimum Wage Act. No contract or project shall be awarded to the persons or firms appearing on this list or to any firm, corporation, partnership or association in which the persons or firms have an interest until three years have elapsed from the date of publication of the list containing the names of the persons or firms. A person to be included on the list to be distributed may appeal the finding of the director as provided in the Public Works Minimum Wage Act.

B. If the accrued payments withheld under the terms of the contract, as mentioned in Subsection A of this section, are insufficient to reimburse all the laborers and mechanics with respect to whom there has been a failure to pay the wages or fringe benefits required pursuant to the Public Works Minimum Wage Act, the laborers and mechanics shall have the right of action or intervention or both against the contractor or person acting as a contractor and the contractor's or person's sureties, conferred by law upon the persons furnishing labor and materials, and, in such proceeding, it shall be no defense that the laborers and mechanics accepted or agreed to less than the required rate of wages or voluntarily made refunds. The director shall refer such matters to the district attorney in the appropriate county, and it is the duty and responsibility of the district attorney to bring civil suit for wages and fringe benefits due and other damages provided for in Subsection C of this section.

C. In the event of an aggregate underpayment of wages or fringe benefits greater than five hundred dollars ($500) to an employee subject to the Public Works Minimum Wage Act or implementing rules, the contractor, subcontractor, employer or a person acting as a contractor responsible for the underpayment shall be liable to any affected employee for three times the amount of the employee's unpaid wages or fringe benefits. In addition, the contractor, subcontractor, employer or person acting as a contractor shall be liable to any affected employee for one hundred dollars ($100) for each calendar day on which a contractor, subcontractor, employer or person acting as a contractor has willfully required or permitted the employee to work in violation of the provisions of the Public Works Minimum Wage Act.

D. In an action brought pursuant to Subsection C of this section, the court shall award, in addition to all other remedies, attorney fees and costs incurred on behalf of an employee adversely affected by a violation of the Public Works Minimum Wage Act by a contractor, subcontractor, employer or person acting as a contractor.