Connecticut § 31-249a - Decision of board, final date, grounds for reopening appeal, payment of benefits, exhaustion of remedies.

§ 31-249a. Decision of board, final date, grounds for reopening appeal, payment of benefits, exhaustion of remedies.

Sec. 31-249a. Decision of board, final date, grounds for reopening appeal, payment of benefits, exhaustion of remedies. (a) Any decision of the board, in the absence of a timely filed appeal from a party aggrieved thereby or a timely filed motion to reopen, vacate, set aside or modify such decision from a party aggrieved thereby, shall become final on the thirty-first calendar day after the date on which a copy of the decision is provided to the party, provided (1) any such appeal or motion which is filed after such thirty-day period may be considered to be timely filed if the filing party shows good cause, as defined in regulations adopted pursuant to section 31-249h, for the late filing, (2) if the last day for filing an appeal or motion falls on any day when the offices of the Employment Security Division are not open for business, such last day shall be extended to the next business day, (3) if any such appeal or motion is filed by mail, such appeal or motion shall be considered to be timely filed if it was received within such thirty-day period or bears a legible United States postal service postmark which indicates that within such thirty-day period it was placed in the possession of such postal authorities for delivery to the appropriate office, except posting dates attributable to private postage meters shall not be considered in determining the timeliness of appeals or motions filed by mail, and (4) if any such appeal is filed electronically, such appeal shall be considered timely filed if it was received within such thirty-day period.

(b) Any decision of the board may be reopened, vacated, set aside, or modified on the timely filed motion of a party aggrieved by such decision, or on the board's own timely filed motion, on grounds of new evidence or if the ends of justice so require upon good cause shown. The appeal period shall run from the date a copy of the decision entered after any such reopening, setting aside, vacation or modification, or a decision denying such motion, as the case may be, was provided to the aggrieved party, provided no such motion from any party may be accepted with regard to a decision denying a preceding motion to reopen, set aside, vacate or modify filed by the same party. An appeal to Superior Court from a board decision may be processed by the board as a motion for purposes of reopening, setting aside, vacating or modifying such decision solely in order to grant the relief requested.

(c) Benefits shall be paid or denied in accordance with the decision of the board. Where the board has determined that the claimant is eligible for benefits and an appeal has been initiated under section 31-249b, benefits shall be paid during the pendency of an appeal before the court. Judicial review of any decision shall be permitted only after a party aggrieved thereby has exhausted his or her remedies before the board, as provided in this chapter.

(P.A. 74-339, S. 23, 36; P.A. 77-426, S. 13, 19; P.A. 79-187, S. 3; P.A. 87-364, S. 4, 8; P.A. 16-169, S. 12.)

History: P.A. 77-426 deleted reference to personal delivery of copy of decision; P.A. 79-187 changed time for final decision or for reopening, modifying, etc. decision from fifteenth to thirty-first day after mailing of decision; P.A. 87-364 provided that appeal filed after 21 calendar days may be timely if there was good cause for the late filing, that 21-day period can only end on a business day and that postmark of any appeal filed by mail will be used to determine timeliness, and established requirements for filing motions to reopen, set aside, vacate or modify the referee's decision; P.A. 16-169 amended Subsec. (a) to replace “mailed” with “provided” re decision and add Subdiv. (4) re filing of appeals electronically, and made technical and conforming changes.

See Sec. 1-2a re construction of references to “United States mail”, “postmark” or “registered or certified mail”.

Cited. 192 C. 581.

Board's decision on whether to reopen a case is discretionary, not mandatory. 36 CS 210, 211. Cited. 44 CS 285.