§ 31-277 — Salary of administrative law judges. Longevity payments.

(a) Each administrative law judge shall, during his first year of service as an administrative law judge, receive an annual salary of six thousand dollars less than the highest step level of a Superior Court judge; during his second year of service as an administrative law judge, each administrative law judge shall receive an annual salary of five thousand dollars less than the highest step level of a Superior Court judge; during his third year of service as an administrative law judge, he shall receive an annual salary of four thousand dollars less than the highest step level of a Superior Court judge; during his fourth year of service as an administrative law judge, he shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars less than the highest step level of a Superior Court judge; during his fifth year of service as an administrative law judge, he shall receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars less than the highest step level of a Superior Court judge; and during his sixth year of service as an administrative law judge, he shall receive an annual salary of one thousand dollars less than the highest step level of a Superior Court judge, together with his necessary clerical, office and travel expenses as approved by the Comptroller; and the chairperson of the Workers' Compensation Commission shall receive in addition ten thousand dollars annually. Each administrative law judge shall devote his entire time to the duties of his office and shall not be otherwise gainfully employed. (b) Each administrative law judge, who has completed not less than ten years of service as an administrative law judge, or other state service or service as an elected officer of the state, or any combination of such service, shall receive semiannual longevity payments based on service completed as of the first day of July and the first day of January of each year as follows: (1) An administrative law judge who has completed ten or more years but less than fifteen years of service shall receive one-quarter of three per cent of the annual salary payable under subsection (a) of this section. (2) An administrative law judge who has completed fifteen or more years but less than twenty years of service shall receive one-half of three per cent of the annual salary payable under subsection (a) of this section. (3) An administrative law judge who has completed twenty or more years but less than twenty-five years of service shall receive three-quarters of three per cent of the annual salary payable under subsection (a) of this section. (4) An administrative law judge who has completed twenty-five or more years of service shall receive three per cent of the annual salary payable under subsection (a) of this section. See Sec. 51-47 re salaries of judges.

Legislative History

(1949 Rev., S. 3600; 1951, 1955, S. 1969d; 1958 Rev., S. 31-141; 1959, P.A. 428, S. 1; 1961, P.A. 491, S. 3; February, 1965, P.A. 331, S. 45; 1969, P.A. 696, S. 2; P.A. 76-436, S. 621, 681; P.A. 79-540, S. 10, 11; P.A. 84-399, S. 12, 17; P.A. 91-32, S. 3, 41; P.A. 93-379, S. 7, 8; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 00-1, S. 38, 46; P.A. 21-18, S. 1; P.A. 22-89, S. 6.) History: 1959 act raised commissioners' salary from $13,500 to $15,000; 1961 act entirely replaced previous provisions; 1965 act increased commissioners' salary to $17,500; 1969 act replaced specific salary with provision calling for salaries “in an amount equal to that paid to a judge of the court of common pleas”; P.A. 76-436 called for salaries of $6,000 less than the “highest step level of a superior court judge”, effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 79-540 replaced single salary figure with schedule of salaries fixed according to years of service; P.A. 84-399 amended section by adding Subsec. (b) re longevity payments; P.A. 91-32 deleted obsolete references to July 1, 1979, and made technical changes; P.A. 93-379 amended Subsec. (b) to permit credit for longevity purposes for other state service or service as an elected official of the state or any combination of service, effective June 30, 1993; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 00-1 amended Subsec. (a) to increase additional compensation of chairman from $1,000 annually to $10,000 annually, effective July 1, 2000; pursuant to P.A. 21-18, “commissioner” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “administrative law judge”, effective October 1, 2021; P.A. 22-89 made a technical change, effective May 24, 2022.