The labor commissioner [director of the labor and industrial division] shall have power and authority to take assignments of wage claims, of employees against employers, and shall also have power to take assignments of liens upon real or personal property securing the claims of employees and laborers, and shall have power and authority to prosecute actions for the collection of such claims and for the foreclosure of liens of such persons securing such claims of persons, who, in the judgment of the labor commissioner [director], are entitled to the services of the labor commissioner [director], and who, in his judgment, have claims or liens or both which are valid and enforceable in the courts. In cases where the commissioner [director] has taken assignments of labor claims which are lienable under the lien laws of the state of New Mexico he shall have power to join any number of claimants in one statement of claim or lien, and in case of suit to join any number of claimants in one cause of action.
NMS § 50-4-11