The Office of Public Hearings (OPH) is an administrative law tribunal, which is like a court that hears certain kinds of cases under Connecticut law. There are a few different ways that cases can end up with OPH. How the case gets to OPH depends on the type of case it is: discrimination cases, whistleblower retaliation cases, and contract compliance cases.
Discrimination complaints filed with Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) go through an investigation process. If a CHRO investigator finds that there is enough evidence for a reasonable person to believe that a discriminatory practice has occurred, CHRO will refer the complaint to OPH for adjudication. CHRO will assign a Human Rights Attorney to present the case in support of the complaint to an OPH Human Rights Referee. If the parties do not come to a settlement agreement, there will be a trial, often referred to as a public hearing. After the public hearing, the Human Rights Referee makes the final decision as to whether someone was discriminated against under State law. If the Referee finds that someone was discriminated against, they may award monetary damages and other remedies to that person. Whistleblower retaliation complaints DO NOT go through CHRO's investigation process, but instead are filed directly with OPH. You can learn more at our Whistleblower Retaliation Complaint page.
CHRO also files complaints alleging violations of Connecticut's contract compliance laws with OPH. If a Human Rights Referee finds that a contractor to a publicly-funded construction project violated the contract compliance laws, OPH can order relief to bring the contractor into compliance, including but not limited to barring the contractor from working on future state-funded projects.
