Sec. 31-61. Wage board. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 31-61. Wage board. (a) A wage board shall be composed of not more than three representatives of the employers in any occupation or occupations, an equal number of representatives of the employees in such occupation or occupations and not more than three disinterested persons representing the public, one of whom shall be designated as chairman. The commissioner shall appoint the members of such wage board, the representatives of the employers and employees to be selected so far as practicable from nominations submitted by employers and employees in such occupation or occupations. Two-thirds of the members of such wage board shall constitute a quorum and the recommendations or report of such wage board shall require a vote of not less than a majority of all its members. Members of a wage board shall serve without pay. The commissioner shall make, from time to time, rules and regulations governing the selection of a wage board and its mode of procedure not inconsistent with this part.

      (b) A wage board shall have power to administer oaths and to require by subpoena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of all books, records and other evidence relative to any matter under investigation. Such subpoenas shall be signed and issued by the chairman of the wage board and shall be served and have the same effect as if issued out of the Superior Court. A wage board shall have power to cause depositions of witnesses residing within or without the state to be taken in the manner prescribed for like depositions in civil actions in the Superior Court.

      (c) The commissioner shall present to a wage board, promptly upon its organization, all the evidence and information in the possession of the commissioner relating to the wages of workers in the occupation for which the wage board was appointed and all other information which the commissioner deems relevant to the establishment of a minimum fair wage for such persons.

      (d) Within sixty days of its organization a wage board shall submit a report, including its recommendations as to minimum fair wage standards for the persons in the occupation the wage standards of which the wage board was appointed to investigate. If its report is not submitted within such time, the commissioner may reconstitute the same board or may constitute a new wage board.

      (e) A wage board may differentiate and classify employments in any occupation according to the nature of the service rendered and recommend appropriate minimum fair rates for different employments. A wage board, for the purpose of establishing a fair wage, may recommend overtime or part-time rates, or special pay for special or extra work, deductions for board, lodging, apparel or other items or services supplied by the employer or such other conditions or circumstances as may be usual in a particular employer-employee relationship, including gratuities. A wage board may also recommend minimum fair wage rates varying with localities if, in the judgment of the wage board, conditions make such local differentiation equitable and do not effect an unreasonable discrimination against any locality.

      (f) A wage board may recommend a suitable scale of rates for learners and apprentices, which may be less than the regular minimum fair wage rates recommended for experienced workers in such occupation or occupations.

      (1949 Rev., S. 3788; 1951, S. 2027d.)

      Cited. 140 C. 73.