1. (a) At any time within twenty days after entry of an award by the administrative law judge, after a decision of the administrative law judge upon a motion or after an order by the administrative law judge according to the provisions of section 31-299b, either party may appeal therefrom to the Compensation Review Board by filing in the office of the administrative law judge from which the award or the decision on a motion originated an appeal petition and five copies thereof. The administrative law judge within three days thereafter shall mail the petition and three copies thereof to the chief of the Compensation Review Board and a copy thereof to the adverse party or parties. If a party files a motion subsequent to the finding and award, order or decision, the twenty-day period for filing an appeal of an award or an order by the administrative law judge shall commence on the date of the decision on such motion.
2. (b) The appeal shall be heard by the Compensation Review Board as provided in section 31-280b. The Compensation Review Board shall hear the appeal on the record of the hearing before the administrative law judge, provided, if it is shown to the satisfaction of the board that additional evidence or testimony is material and that there were good reasons for failure to present it in the proceedings before the administrative law judge, the Compensation Review Board may hear additional evidence or testimony.
3. (c) Upon the final determination of the appeal by the Compensation Review Board, but no later than one year after the date the appeal petition was filed, the Compensation Review Board shall issue its decision, affirming, modifying or reversing the decision of the administrative law judge. The decision of the Compensation Review Board shall include its findings, conclusions of law and award.
4. (d) When any appeal is pending, and it appears to the Compensation Review Board that any part of the award appealed from is not affected by the issues raised by the appeal, the Compensation Review Board may, on motion or of its own motion, render a judgment directing compliance with any portion of the award not affected by the appeal; or if the only issue raised by the appeal is the amount of the average weekly wage for the purpose of determining the amount of compensation, as provided in section 31-310, the administrative law judge shall, on motion of the claimant, direct the payment of the portion of the compensation payable under his award that is not in dispute, if any, pending final adjudication of the disputed portion thereof. In all appeals in which one of the parties is not represented by counsel, and in which the party taking the appeal does not prosecute the case within a reasonable time from the date of appeal, the Compensation Review Board may, of its own motion, affirm, reverse or modify the award.
5. (e) When an appeal is taken to the Compensation Review Board, the chief clerk thereof shall notify the administrative law judge from whose award the appeal was taken, in writing, of any action of the Compensation Review Board thereon and of the final disposition of the appeal, whether by judgment, withdrawal or otherwise, and shall upon the decision of the appeal, furnish the administrative law judge with a copy of the decision. Whenever any appeal is pending, if it appears to the Compensation Review Board that justice so requires, the Compensation Review Board shall order a certified copy of the evidence for the use of the employer, the employee or both, and the certified copy shall be made a part of the record on the appeal. The procedure in appealing from an award of the administrative law judge shall be the same as the procedure employed in an appeal from the Superior Court to the Supreme Court, where applicable. The chairperson of the Workers' Compensation Commission shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to establish rules, methods of procedure and forms as the chairperson deems expedient for the purposes of this chapter.
6. (f) During the pendency of any appeal of an award made pursuant to this chapter, the claimant shall receive all compensation and medical treatment payable under the terms of the award to the extent the compensation and medical treatment are not being paid by any health insurer or by any insurer or employer who has been ordered, pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, to pay a portion of the award. The compensation and medical treatment shall be paid by the employer or its insurer.
7. (g) If the final adjudication results in the denial of compensation to the claimant, and he has previously received compensation on the claim pursuant to subsection (f) and this subsection, the claimant shall reimburse the employer or its insurer for all sums previously expended, plus interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum. Upon any such denial of compensation, the administrative law judge who originally heard the case or his successor shall conduct a hearing to determine the repayment schedule for the claimant.

(1949 Rev., S. 7450; 1958 Rev., S. 31-177; 1961, P.A. 491, S. 23; 1963, P.A. 642, S. 85; 1967, P.A. 692, S. 2; 1972, P.A. 108, S. 6; P.A. 74-183, S. 268, 291; P.A. 76-436, S. 231, 681; P.A. 78-280, S. 1, 127; P.A. 79-540, S. 3; P.A. 81-155, S. 2; 81-472, S. 144, 159; P.A. 84-133; P.A. 86-27; 86-56; P.A. 91-32, S. 19, 41; 91-339, S. 20, 55; P.A. 95-277, S. 9, 19; P.A. 01-22, S. 1; P.A. 07-31, S. 2; P.A. 21-18, S. 1; P.A. 22-89, S. 22.)

History: 1961 act entirely replaced previous provisions; 1963 act allowed appeals after commissioner's decision upon a motion and required that appeals be made to court for county where injury occurred rather than county where award was filed, adding provision re court for appeal when injury occurred outside state; 1967 act deleted references to findings of commissioners and specified that appeal procedure is same as for appeals from superior court to supreme court; 1972 act replaced superior court with court of common pleas throughout section, effective September 1, 1972, except that courts with cases pending retain jurisdiction; P.A. 74-183 added references to judicial districts and made appeal procedure same as for appeals from court of common pleas to superior court, effective December 31, 1974; P.A. 76-436 replaced court of common pleas with superior court and deleted provision re appeal procedure, effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 78-280 deleted references to counties; P.A. 79-540 replaced provisions re appeals to superior court with new provisions re appeals to compensation review division; P.A. 81-155 permitted the appeal of orders made by the commissioner according to the provisions of Sec. 31-299b; P.A. 81-472 made technical changes; P.A. 84-133 added Subsec. (b), providing for the payment of compensation and benefits due under an occupational disease award during the pendency of any appeal of such award; P.A. 86-27 provided that compensation and benefits due under any award made pursuant to this chapter shall be paid by the second injury fund during the pendency of any appeal of the award; P.A. 86-56 required the compensation review division to issue its decision on any appeal within one year of the filing of the appeal petition, except that any decision on an appeal pending on October 1, 1986, shall be issued within one year of said date; P.A. 91-32 divided existing Subsec. (a) into Subsecs. (a) to (e), inclusive, divided existing Subsec. (b) into Subsecs. (f) and (g) and made technical changes; P.A. 91-339 changed “compensation review division” to “compensation review board”, changed “chairman” to “chief” of the board, added reference to Sec. 31-380b in Subsec. (b) and authorized the chairman of the workers' compensation commission to adopt regulations in Subsec. (e); P.A. 95-277 amended Subsec. (f) to provide that the compensation and medical treatment of the injured employee be paid by the employer or its insurer rather than Second Injury Fund and, in Subsec. (g) substituted references to “Second Injury Fund” with “employer or its insurer” to reflect the closing of the Second Injury Fund and deleted provision re reimbursement of Second Injury Fund by employer, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 01-22 amended Subsec. (a) by increasing the time to take an appeal from 10 to 20 days; P.A. 07-31 amended Subsec. (a) by commencing 20-day period for filing appeal, where motion filed subsequent to finding and award, order or decision, on date of decision on motion; pursuant to P.A. 21-18, “commissioner” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “administrative law judge” throughout, effective October 1, 2021; P.A. 22-89 made technical changes in Subsec. (e), effective May 24, 2022.