2021 Colorado Code
Title 8 - Labor and Industry
Article 1 - Division of Labor - Industrial Claim Appeals Office
§ 8-1-122. Inquiries - Scope - Report

1. The director shall inquire into the general condition of labor in the principal industries in the state of Colorado and especially in those which are carried on in corporate forms; into existing relations between employers and employees; into the effect of industrial conditions on public welfare and into the rights and powers of the community to deal therewith; into the conditions of sanitation and safety of employees and the provisions for protecting the life, limb, and health of the employees; into relations existing between lessees of state lands and the state as to production and royalties or rentals paid and the relations between said lessees and their employees with respect to wages paid and conditions of labor; into the growth of associations of employers and wage earners and the effect of such associations upon the relations between employers and employees; into the extent and results of methods of collective bargaining; into any methods which have been tried in any state or in foreign countries for maintaining mutually satisfactory relations between employees and employers; into methods of avoiding or adjusting labor disputes through peaceable and conciliatory mediation and negotiations; and into the scope, methods, and resources of existing bureaus of labor and possible ways of increasing their efficiency and usefulness.
2. The director shall seek to discover the underlying causes of dissatisfaction in the industrial situation, take all necessary means and methods within the powers of such director as provided by law, to alleviate the same, and report such remedial legislation as in the judgment of the director may be advisable, with his recommendations thereon. Such report shall accompany the annual report required in section 8-1-107 (2)(j).

History. Source: L. 15: P. 576, § 26. C.L. § 4350. CSA: C. 97, § 28. CRS 53: § 80-1-26. C.R.S. 1963: § 80-1-26. L. 64: P. 147, § 81. L. 69: P. 582, § 40. History. Source: L. 15: P. 576, § 26. C.L. § 4350. CSA: C. 97, § 28. CRS 53: § 80-1-26. C.R.S. 1963: § 80-1-26. L. 64: P. 147, § 81. L. 69: P. 582, § 40.

Annotator's note. The case included in the annotations to this section which refers to the industrial commission was decided prior to the 1969 amendment to this section vesting in the director of the division of labor powers and duties previously exercised by the industrial commission.

This section contains broad investiture of power in the industrial commission of its own volition to inquire into the general conditions of labor in the principal industries of the state. Indus. Comm'n v. People ex rel. Metz, 86 Colo. 377 , 281 P. 742 (1929).

But powers are limited and decisions may be set aside. While the commission is invested with broad and comprehensive powers in the investigation, adjustment, and settlement of labor disputes, its powers are limited and its decisions may be set aside by the courts where there is a manifest abuse of discretion, as where the commission has acted in excess of its powers or where its findings are not supported by the evidence. Indus. Comm'n v. People ex rel. Metz, 86 Colo. 377 , 281 P. 742 (1929).

The director may inquire into the existing relations between school districts and their teachers, may collect any information regarding such relationship, and may develop policies aimed at avoiding or adjusting disputes arising within that relationship in order to further the purposes of the Industrial Relations Act. Martin v. Montezuma-Cortez Sch. Dist. RE-1, 841 P.2d 237 (Colo. 1992).