(a) The Department of Rehabilitation Services shall provide rehabilitation programs for employees with compensable injuries within the provisions of this chapter, which injuries prevented such employees from performing their customary or most recent work. The Commissioner of Rehabilitation Services shall establish rehabilitation programs which shall best suit the needs of such employees and shall make the programs available in convenient locations throughout the state. After consultation with the Labor Commissioner, the Commissioner of Rehabilitation Services may establish fees for the programs, so as to provide the most effective rehabilitation programs at a minimum rate. In order to carry out the provisions of this section, the Commissioner of Rehabilitation Services shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, and, subject to the provisions of chapter 67, provide for the employment of necessary assistants.

(b) The Commissioner of Rehabilitation Services shall be authorized to (1) enter into agreements with other state or federal agencies to carry out the purposes of this section and expend money for that purpose, and (2) on behalf of the state of Connecticut, develop matching programs or activities to secure federal grants or funds for the purposes of this section and may pledge or use funds supplied from the administrative costs fund, as provided in section 31-345, to finance the state’s share of the programs or activities.

(1967, P.A. 569, S. 1; P.A. 79-376, S. 40; P.A. 85-133, S. 1; P.A. 91-32, S. 4, 41; 91-339, S. 8, 55; P.A. 95-265, S. 1, 7; P.A. 96-216, S. 1, 5; P.A. 11-44, S. 47; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 12-1, S. 84; P.A. 17-202, S. 86.)

History: P.A. 79-376 replaced “workmen’s compensation” with “workers’ compensation”; P.A. 85-133 required that the commission adopt regulations on or before October 1, 1986, concerning the operations of the division of workers’ rehabilitation; P.A. 91-32 designated existing section as Subsec. (a), made technical changes and added Subsecs. (b) and (c), re method of financing cost of rehabilitation division and re director’s powers; P.A. 91-339 amended Subsec. (a) by requiring that the director be appointed by the chairman of the workers’ compensation commission, that the chairman approve the establishment of fees and that the director report to the chairman, and by authorizing the chairman to adopt regulations, deleted Subsec. (b), redesignated Subsec. (c) as Subsec. (b) and made technical changes; P.A. 95-265 amended Subsec. (a) by eliminating the Division of Workers Rehabilitation and the full-time salaried director, transferring to Workers Compensation Commission chairman the authority to establish rehabilitation programs, and to cap funds appropriated for rehabilitation program to no more than $550,000 and made technical corrections in Subsec. (b), effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-216 amended Subsec. (a) to make a technical correction concerning approval of the chairman before establishing fees and removed the limitation on the amount of funds used as grants to implement the section, effective June 4, 1996; P.A. 11-44 replaced “Workers’ Compensation Commission” with “Bureau of Rehabilitative Services” and replaced “chairman” with “director of the Bureau of Rehabilitative Services” and “director”, effective July 1, 2011; June 12 Sp. Sess. P.A. 12-1 replaced “Bureau of Rehabilitative Services” with “Department of Rehabilitation Services” and replaced references to director of Bureau of Rehabilitative Services with “Commissioner of Rehabilitation Services”, effective July 1, 2012; P.A. 17-202 amended Subsec. (a) by replacing “employees suffering compensable injuries” with “employees with compensable injuries”, replacing “which injuries disabled them” with “which injuries prevented such employees”, and replaced “injured employees” with “such employees”.