Sec. 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
mailed 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 and (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. Posting dates attributable to private postage meters
shall not be considered in determining the timeliness of appeals or motions filed by mail.
(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 mailing of a copy of the decision
entered after any such reopening, vacating, setting aside or modification, or the decision
denying such motion, as the case may be, provided no such motion from any party may
be accepted with regard to a decision denying a preceding motion to reopen, vacate, set
aside 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, vacating,
setting aside 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 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.)
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.
See Sec. 1-2a re construing of references to "United States mail" or "postmark" to include references to any delivery
service designated by the Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to Section 7502 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or any
successor to the code, as amended, and to any date recorded or marked as described in said Section 7502 by a designated
delivery service and construing of "registered or certified mail" to include any equivalent designated by the Secretary of
the Treasury pursuant to said Section 7502.
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.