• There are seven human rights referees.

• They are appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of both houses of the General Assembly, to serve for a term of three years.

• They conduct settlement negotiations and hearings concerning discrimination complaints filed with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO).

• At hearings they may subpoena witnesses and compel their attendance, administer oaths, take the testimony of any person under oath, require the production for examination of any books and papers relating to any matter under investigation or in question, and determine a reasonable fee to be paid to an expert witness.

1. What background do you have in civil rights or other areas that make you qualified to become a human rights referee?

2. How many settlement negotiations and hearings have you conducted as a human rights referee?

3. What challenges have you faced in your role as referee? What would you do differently as referee should you be reappointed?

4. What types of remedies are available to victims of discrimination? How should a referee determine and calculate damages?

5. Should referees treat CHRO the same as everyone else or should they give CHRO preferential treatment in any way?

6. How much control, influence, or authority should CHRO have over referees?

7. What are your views on affirmative action?

8. Is there tension between affirmative action and the laws prohibiting discrimination? If so, how is this tension reconciled?

9. In what ways have recent referee decisions shaped civil rights law in Connecticut?

10. Should our employment discrimination law require employers to make special accommodations because of an employee's or applicant's physical or mental disability?

11. Should the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of disability include persons who are perceived as having a disability, even if the person is not actually disabled?