(1) The department shall adopt reasonable and proper rules and regulations relative to the exercise of its powers and authorities and proper rules to govern its proceedings and to regulate the mode and manner of all investigations and hearings. (3) The department shall employ, promote and remove deputies, clerks and other assistants as needed, to fix their compensation, and to assign to them their duties; and shall appoint advisers who shall, without compensation except reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses, assist the department in the execution of its duties. (4) The department shall collect, collate and publish statistical and other information relating to the work under its jurisdiction and shall make public reports in its judgment necessary. (5) (a) The department shall conduct such investigations, hold such public meetings and attend or be represented at such meetings, conferences and conventions inside or outside of the state as may, in its judgment, tend to better the execution of its functions. (b) For the purpose of making any investigation with regard to any employment, the secretary may appoint, by an order in writing, any deputy who is a citizen of the state, or any other competent person as an agent whose duties shall be prescribed in such order. (c) In the discharge of his or her duties such agent shall have every power of an inquisitorial nature granted in chs. 103 to 106 to the department, the same powers as a supplemental court commissioner with regard to the taking of depositions and all powers granted by law to a supplemental court commissioner relative to depositions. (d) The department may conduct any number of such investigations contemporaneously through different agents, and may delegate to such agent the taking of all testimony bearing upon any investigation or hearing. The decision of the department shall be based upon its examination of all testimony and records. The recommendations made by such agents shall be advisory only and shall not preclude the taking of further testimony if the department so orders nor preclude further investigation. (e) The secretary may direct any deputy who is a citizen to act as special prosecutor in any action, proceeding, investigation, hearing or trial relating to the matters within its jurisdiction. (f) Upon the request of the department, the department of justice or district attorney of the county in which any investigation, hearing or trial had under chs. 103 to 106 is pending, shall aid therein and prosecute under the supervision of the department, all necessary actions or proceedings for the enforcement of those sections and all other laws of this state relating to the regulation of employment, and for the punishment of all violations thereof. (6) (a) All orders of the department in conformity with law shall be in force, and shall be prima facie lawful; and all such orders shall be valid and in force, and prima facie reasonable and lawful until they are found otherwise upon judicial review thereof pursuant to ch. 227 or until altered or revoked by the department. (b) All general orders shall take effect as provided in s. 227.22. Special orders shall take effect as directed in the special order. (c) The department shall, upon application of any employer or owner, grant such time as may be reasonably necessary for compliance with any order. (d) Any person may petition the department for an extension of time, which the department shall grant if it finds such an extension of time necessary. (e) Any employer or other person interested either because of ownership in or occupation of any property affected by any such order, or otherwise, may petition for a hearing on the reasonableness of any order of the department in the manner provided in chs. 103 to 106. (f) Such petition for hearing shall be by verified petition filed with the department, setting out specifically and in full detail the order upon which a hearing is desired and every reason why such order is unreasonable, and every issue to be considered by the department on the hearing. The petitioner shall be deemed to have finally waived all objections to any irregularities and illegalities in the order upon which a hearing is sought other than those set forth in the petition. All hearings of the department shall be open to the public. (g) Upon receipt of such petition, if the issues raised in such petition have theretofore been adequately considered, the department shall determine the same by confirming without hearing its previous determination, or if such hearing is necessary to determine the issues raised, the department shall order a hearing thereon and consider and determine the matter or matters in question at such times as shall be prescribed. Notice of the time and place of such hearing shall be given to the petitioner and to such other persons as the department may find directly interested in such decision. (h) Upon such investigation, if the department finds that the order complained of is unjust or unreasonable the department shall substitute for that order such other order as shall be just and reasonable. (i) Whenever at the time of the final determination upon such hearing it shall be found that further time is reasonably necessary for compliance with the order of the department, the department shall grant such time as may be reasonably necessary for such compliance. (7) (a) Any person affected by any local order in conflict with an order of the department, may in the manner provided in sub. (6) (e) to (i), petition the department for a hearing on the ground that such local order is unreasonable and in conflict with the order of the department. The petition for such hearing shall conform to the requirements set forth for a petition in sub. (6) (e) to (i). (b) Upon receipt of a petition under par. (a) the department shall order a hearing to consider and determine the issues raised by the petition. The hearing shall be held in the village, city or municipality where the local order appealed from was made. Notice of the time and place of such hearing shall be given to the petitioner and such other persons as the department may find directly interested in such decision, including the clerk of the municipality or town from which such appeal comes. If upon such investigation it shall be found that the local order appealed from is unreasonable and in conflict with the order of the department, the department may modify its order and shall substitute for the local order appealed from such order as shall be reasonable and legal in the premises, and thereafter the local order shall, in such particulars, be void and of no effect. (8) (a) No action, proceeding or suit to set aside, vacate or amend any order of the department or to enjoin the enforcement of an order of the department shall be brought unless the plaintiff has applied to the department for a hearing on the order at the time and as provided in sub. (6) (e) to (i), and has, in the petition for the hearing under sub. (6), raised every issue raised in the action, proceeding or suit to set aside, vacate, amend or enjoin the enforcement of the order of the department. (b) In a prosecution for the violation of an order of the department, the order of the department shall be conclusively presumed to be just, reasonable and lawful, unless prior to the beginning of the prosecution for the violation a proceeding for judicial review of such order has been instituted as provided in ch. 227. (9) A substantial compliance with the requirements of chs. 103 to 106 shall be sufficient to give effect to an order of the department, and no order may be declared inoperative, illegal or void for any omission of a technical nature. (10) Except as provided in ss. 103.06 (5) (d) , 103.275 (2) (bm), (br), and (bt), 103.34 (10) (b), (c), and (d), 103.91 (4) (b), (c), and (d), 103.92 (6), (7), and (8), 104.07 (5), (6), and (7), and 105.13 (2), (3), and (4), orders of the department under chs. 103 to 106 shall be subject to review in the manner provided in ch. 227. (11) Every day during which any person or corporation, or any officer, agent or employee of a person or corporation, fails to observe and comply with any order of the department or fails to perform any duty required under chs. 103 to 106, shall constitute a separate and distinct violation of the order or of the requirement under chs. 103 to 106, whichever is applicable. (12) (a) If any employer, employee, owner, or other person violates chs. 103 to 106, or fails or refuses to perform any duty required under chs. 103 to 106, within the time prescribed by the department, for which no penalty has been specifically provided, or fails, neglects or refuses to obey any lawful order given or made by the department or any judgment or decree made by any court in connection with chs. 103 to 106, for each such violation, failure or refusal, the employer, employee, owner or other person shall forfeit not less than $10 nor more than $100 for each offense. (b) It shall be the duty of all officers of the state, the counties and municipalities, upon request of the department, to enforce in their respective departments or jurisdictions all lawful orders of the department to the extent that the orders are applicable and consistent with the general duties of such officers. (13) (a) The secretary or any examiner appointed by the secretary may hold hearings and take testimony. (b) Each witness who appears before the department by its order shall receive for attendance the fees and mileage provided for witnesses in civil cases in courts of record, which shall be audited and paid by the state in the same manner as other expenses are audited and paid, upon the presentation of properly verified vouchers approved by the secretary, and charged to the proper appropriation for the department. No witness subpoenaed at the instance of an attorney under par. (cm) or at the instance of a party other than the department is entitled to compensation from the state for attendance or travel unless the department certifies that the testimony was material to the matter investigated. (c) The department or any party may in any investigation cause the depositions of witnesses residing within or without the state to be taken in the manner prescribed by law for similar depositions in civil actions in circuit courts. The expense incurred by the state in the taking of such depositions shall be charged against the proper appropriations for the department. (cm) A party’s attorney of record may issue a subpoena to compel the attendance of a witness or the production of evidence. A subpoena issued by an attorney must be in substantially the same form as provided in s. 805.07 (4) and must be served in the manner provided in s. 805.07 (5). The attorney shall, at the time of issuance, send a copy of the subpoena to the appeal tribunal or other representative of the department responsible for conducting the proceeding. (d) A full and complete record shall be kept of all proceedings had before the department on any investigation and all testimony shall be taken down by the stenographer appointed by the department. (14) (a) The department shall administer and enforce, except where otherwise provided for in the statutes, the laws relating to employment and employment offices. (b) The department shall investigate, ascertain and determine such reasonable classifications of persons and employments as shall be necessary to carry out the purposes of chs. 103 to 106. (c) Any commissioner, the secretary or any deputy of the department may enter any place of employment or public building for the purpose of collecting facts and statistics and bringing to the attention of every employer or owner any law relating to the regulation of employment or any order of the department and any failure on the part of such employer or owner to comply with that law or order. No employer or owner may refuse to admit any commissioner, the secretary or any deputy of the department to his or her place of employment or public building. (d) Every employer and every owner shall furnish to the department all information required by the department to administer and enforce chs. 103 to 106, and shall provide specific answers to all questions that the department asks relating to any information the department requires. (e) Any employer receiving from the department any form requesting information that the department requires to administer and enforce chs. 103 to 106, along with directions to complete the form, shall properly complete the form and answer fully and correctly each question asked in the form. If the employer is unable to answer any question, the employer shall give a good and sufficient reason for his or her inability to answer the question. The employer’s answers shall be verified under oath by the employer, or by the president, secretary or other managing officer of the corporation, if the employer is a corporation, and the completed form shall be returned to the department at its office within the period fixed by the department. (14m) (a) In this subsection, “qualified independent researcher” means a faculty member of a university who satisfies all of the following: 1. The faculty member has an approved protocol from an institutional review board for human subjects research to work with data containing personal information for the purposes of evaluating the program under s. 119.23. 2. The faculty member has received from the state and properly managed data containing personal information for the purposes of evaluating the program under s. 119.23 before July 14, 2015. (b) The department shall, to the extent permitted under federal law, permit a qualified independent researcher to have access to any database maintained by the department for the purpose of cross-matching information contained in any such database with a database that both is in the possession of the qualified independent researcher and contains information regarding pupils participating in the program under s. 119.23. The department may charge a fee to the qualified independent researcher for the information that does not exceed the cost incurred by the department to provide the information. (15) The department may establish a schedule of fees for publications and seminars provided by the department for which no fee is otherwise authorized, required or prohibited by statute. Fees established under this subsection for publications and seminars provided by the department may not exceed the actual cost incurred in providing those publications and seminars. If the department receives unanticipated proceeds from a statewide labor and management conference provided by the department that exceed the actual cost of the conference, the department may use those unanticipated proceeds to provide grants for local labor and management conferences, educational activities and other activities to promote positive relations between labor and management. (16) Each of the commissioners, the secretary or any deputy secretary may certify to official acts, and take testimony. (20) The department shall establish a procedure for the department to provide to the state public defender and the department of administration any information that the department may have concerning an individual’s wages to assist the state public defender and the department of administration in collecting payment ordered under s. 48.275 (2) , 757.66, 973.06 (1) (e) or 977.076 (1). (21) The department shall distribute all of the funds under s. 20.445 (1) (cr) to community action agencies and organizations, including any of the 11 federally recognized tribal governing bodies in this state and limited-purpose agencies, in proportion to the share of funds actually allocated to these entities under 42 USC 1315 and from other federal and private foundation sources that provide funds for job creation and development for individuals with low incomes.
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