The following procedural policies have been implemented by the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations. Please read carefully.
I. Hearings
A. Scheduling
Effective June 2, 2003, a case referred to the Board for a hearing shall be unilaterally assigned a hearing date by the administrative staff of the Labor Board.
B. Postponements
One postponement will be granted for case(s) that have been unilaterally assigned hearing dates by the Board providing all the specific steps for exercising this option are followed. (a) Prior to contacting the Board, the requesting party must obtain agreement for the postponement and a mutually approved date for rescheduling from the other party. It is suggested that you first contact this office for available dates. (b) The requesting party must then contact the Board within ten (10) days from the receipt of the hearing notice and present all of the above information to the Board. Any conflict with the Board's calendar concerning a date will result in the requesting party obtaining another mutual date.
If these steps are not followed or the parties cannot reach agreement, the postponement request will ordinarily be granted only for the reasons set forth in (C) below. Any subsequent requests for postponements will also proceed under the regular postponement policy.
C. Reasons for Postponements
Postponements may ordinarily be granted for one of the reasons set forth below:
1. Witness unavailable for a reason which could not have been anticipated when the hearing was scheduled (such as illness, hospitalization, death in family).
2. Principal spokesperson is unavailable for a reason which could not have been anticipated when the hearing was scheduled (such as illness, hospitalization, death in family).
3. Sole practitioners representing party required to be in court the same day and cannot be available for a hearing.
4. Attorney required to be in court and no other attorney in office can reasonably be expected to handle the case.
D. Settlements/Withdrawals
The following policy, adopted at a meeting of the State Board of Labor Relations, will be strictly enforced:
It shall be the Board policy concerning notice of withdrawals of matters scheduled before this Board that the notice must be received by this Board no later than forty-eight (48) hours prior to the start of scheduled hearing. In the event that said notice has not been received within this time limit, parties must appear before the Board to file the withdrawal. If the parties do not appear to file the withdrawal, the Board may dismiss the complaint. The parties may choose to have only one representative appear before the Board to withdraw a case.
E. Order of Scheduling
The Board will order the parties to a hearing on a date certain when, in its sole discretion, to do so would effectuate the purposes of the statutes the Labor Board is charged with administering. Examples of such cases include but are not limited to those involving issues of alleged illegal job action, layoffs or termination of employment.