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Trujillo v. City of Albuquerque9/7/1993
riate to remand for additional findings or Conclusions. See Barnett & Casbarian, Inc.; .
I should add two final comments regarding the award of Social Security disability and the age factor. First, I agree with the majority that evidence of the award of Social Security disability benefits to Claimant after his injury is not relevant to the award of workers' compensation benefits, even if it were otherwise admissible. Testimony at the hearing in this case made clear that the Social Security award was based on a table used by the Social Security Administration and was independent of whether Claimant in fact could find suitable employment.
Second, although age is listed in the Workers' Compensation Act as a factor to be considered in evaluating disability, NMSA 1978, §§ 52-1-25, -26 (Repl.Pamp.1987), it would not be unreasonable for the Judge to find that specific consideration of Claimant's age would not materially affect Brewster's percentage calculation. To the extent that age affects suitability for employment because of physical deterioration with time, Brewster's analysis took into account an evaluation of Claimant's physical capacity. To the extent that age affects one's capacity to learn new skills (or affects the cost-benefit ratio of training a person with a limited future worklife), this consideration should be unimportant when the worker's job possibilities are limited to unskilled work, as was Claimant's situation. To the extent that employers may prefer younger workers (i.e., will discriminate against older workers), it is noteworthy that the jobs specifically described by Brewster as being suitable for Claimant were jobs with employers who would be prohibited by federal law from discriminating against workers on the basis of age. See 29 U.S.C. §§ 623, 630, 631.
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