During the 2015 legislative session, and later in the 2017 regular legislative session, lawmakers started redrafting the sections of the New Mexico Workers' Compensation Act (WCA) that seemed unfair and unworkable to many employers. The revisions became law on June 16, 2017. Now, when a worker is fired for cause unrelated to a workplace injury, the worker is no longer eligible for workers' comp benefits beyond the basic impairment rating benefit.

For all their many faults, the exemptions, especially the full BICE, provided compliance professionals with a long checklist of specific compliance items. The Impartial Conduct Standards are somewhat more vague and do not necessarily lend themselves to easy compliance checklists.

The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals—which covers Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—recently heard a dentist's claim that her discharge constituted age discrimination. What did the court decide?