A. No person shall willfully interfere with the lawful actions of the office, including the request for immediate entry into a long-term care facility.

B. No person shall institute discriminatory, disciplinary or retaliatory action against any resident, employee or other person for filing a complaint, providing information to or otherwise cooperating with a representative of the office.

C. Any person who violates Subsection A of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) per occurrence. Any person who violates Subsection B of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per occurrence. The agency may assess and collect the penalty after notice and an opportunity for hearing, before a hearing officer designated by the agency to hear the matter, upon a determination that a person willfully interfered with the office or discriminated, disciplined or retaliated against an individual who communicated or disclosed information to the office in good faith pursuant to Subsection A or B of this section. The hearing officer has the power to administer oaths on request of any party and issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum. However, if the violation is against a person covered by the Personnel Act [Chapter 10, Article 9 NMSA 1978], the office shall refer the matter to the agency employing the person for disciplinary action.

D. Any party may appeal to the district court pursuant to the provisions of Section 39-3-1.1 NMSA 1978.

History: Laws 1989, ch. 208, § 19; 1997, ch. 257, § 11; 1998, ch. 55, § 39; 1999, ch. 265, § 41.

The 1999 amendment, effective July 1, 1999, substituted "Subsection A or B" for "Subsections A and B" in the third sentence of Subsection C and substituted "Section 39-3-1.1" for "Section 12-8A-1" in Subsection D.

The 1998 amendment, effective September 1, 1998, in the section heading, inserted "; appeal"; in Subsection B, substituted "a" for "any"; and rewrote Subsection D.

The 1997 amendment, effective July 1, 1997, rewrote Subsection B and, in Subsection C, substituted "five thousand dollars ($5,000)" and "ten thousand dollars ($10,000)" for "two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500)" and "five thousand dollars ($5,000)", respectively, and made stylistic changes.