§ 95-4. Authority, powers and duties of Commissioner. - North Carolina Statutes

§95‑4.  Authority, powers and duties of Commissioner.

The Commissioner of Laborshall be the executive and administrative head of the Department of Labor. Inaddition to the other powers and duties conferred upon the Commissioner ofLabor by this Article, the said Commissioner shall have authority and becharged with the duty:

(1)        To appoint andassign to duty such clerks, stenographers, and other employees in the variousdivisions of the Department, with approval of said director of division, as maybe necessary to perform the work of the Department, and fix their compensation,subject to the approval of the Department of Administration. The Commissionerof Labor may assign or transfer stenographers, or clerks, from one division toanother, or inspectors from one division to another, or combine the clericalforce of two or more divisions, or require from one division assistance in thework of another division, as he may consider necessary and advisable: Provided,however, the provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to the IndustrialCommission, or the Division of Workers' Compensation.

(2)        To make such rulesand regulations with reference to the work of the Department and of the severaldivisions thereof as shall be necessary to properly carry out the dutiesimposed upon the said Commissioner and the work of the Department; such rulesand regulations to be made subject to the approval of the Governor.

(3)        To take and preservetestimony, examine witnesses, administer oaths, and under proper restriction enterany public institution of the State, any factory, store, workshop, laundry,public eating house or mine, and interrogate any person employed therein orconnected therewith, or the proper officer of a corporation, or file a writtenor printed list of interrogatories and require full and complete answers to thesame, to be returned under oath within 30 days of the receipt of said list ofquestions.

(4)        To secure theenforcement of all laws relating to the inspection of factories, mercantileestablishments, mills, workshops, public eating places, and commercialinstitutions in the State. To aid him in the work, he shall have power toappoint factory inspectors and other assistants. The duties of such inspectorsand other assistants shall be prescribed by the Commissioner of Labor.

(5)        To visit andinspect, personally or through his assistants and factory inspectors, atreasonable hours, as often as practicable, the factories, mercantileestablishments, mills, workshops, public eating places, and commercialinstitutions in the State, where goods, wares, or merchandise are manufactured,purchased, or sold, at wholesale or retail.

(6)        To enforce theprovisions of this section and to prosecute all violations of laws relating tothe inspection of factories, mercantile establishments, mills, workshops,public eating houses, and commercial institutions in this State before anycourt of competent jurisdiction. It shall be the duty of the district attorneyof the proper district upon the request of the Commissioner of Labor, or any ofhis assistants or deputies, to prosecute any violation of a law, which it ismade the duty of the said Commissioner of Labor to enforce. (1925,c. 288; 1931, c. 277; c. 312, ss. 5, 6; 1933, cc. 46, 244; 1945, c. 723, s. 2;1957, c. 269, s. 1; 1973, c. 47, s. 2; c. 108, s. 41; 1991, c. 636, s. 3.)