Connecticut § 31-376 - Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

§ 31-376. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Sec. 31-376. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. (a) There shall continue to be a Connecticut Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission which shall be within the Labor Department for administrative purposes only. Said commission shall consist of five members appointed by the Governor from among persons who by reason of training, education or experience are qualified to carry out the functions of the commission under this chapter.

(b) Members of the review commission shall serve terms of four years and until their successors are appointed.

(c) A member of the review commission shall hear and rule on appeals from citations, notifications and penalties issued under the provisions of this chapter. The commissioner shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations with respect to the procedural aspect of the review commission hearings.

(d) Any commission member hearing an appeal or appeals under the provisions of this chapter shall be paid one hundred twenty-five dollars per diem. The members shall alternate the hearing of such appeals according to a schedule adopted by the commissioner. If a member is unable to hear an appeal, the next available member, in accordance with such schedule, shall hear the appeal. A member shall be selected to hear an appeal within thirty days after the date it was filed.

(e) Any staff necessary for the purposes of such hearings shall be provided by the Labor Department.

(f) In the conduct of hearings the review commission or hearing officer may subpoena and examine witnesses, require the production of evidence, administer oaths and take testimony and depositions.

(g) After hearing an appeal the review commission member may sustain, modify or dismiss a citation or penalty, provided such decision shall be issued within one hundred twenty days after the date the appeal was filed.

(P.A. 73-379, S. 13, 21; P.A. 74-137, S. 16, 21; 74-176, S. 1, 2; P.A. 75-285, S. 3; P.A. 77-614, S. 67, 484, 610; P.A. 81-382, S. 6, 8; P.A. 83-569, S. 7, 17.)

History: P.A. 74-137 replaced provisions whereby commission fixed salaries of secretary of commission (with governor's approval) and of all other employees with provision whereby state personnel policy board is responsible for fixing all salaries; P.A. 74-176 specified that commission is an autonomous body and within the labor department for fiscal and budgetary purposes only; P.A. 75-285 added provision in Subsec. (j) re review procedure; P.A. 77-614 replaced personnel policy board with commissioner of administrative services and, effective January 1, 1979, deleted reference to commission as autonomous body and substituted “administrative” for “fiscal and budgetary” purposes; P.A. 81-382 reduced number of commission members from three to two, deleted provision whereby governor designated chairman, deleted Subsec. (c) re meetings, special meetings and quorum, relettered former Subsec. (d) as (c) and allowed single member rather than whole commission to hear and rule on appeals and transferred regulation power from commission to labor commissioner, deleted former Subsecs. (e) to (j) re commission employees, salaries of members and employees, expense reimbursements and hearing procedure, inserted new Subsecs. (d) and (e) re payments to members hearing appeals and staff and relettered former Subsecs. (k) and (l) accordingly; P.A. 83-569 set time limits for hearings and decisions on appeals and enlarged commission membership from two to five.

See Sec. 4-38f for definition of “administrative purposes only”.