§ 3504. Duties of the Department.
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(a)The Department shall administer and enforce this chapter.
(b)The Department shall investigate, as necessary, to determine compliance with this chapter.
(c)As part of the Department’s investigation, the Department is permitted to:
(1)Enter and inspect the premises or place of business, employment, or work site, and upon demand examine and copy, wholly or partly, any or all books, registers, payrolls, and other records, including those required to be made, kept and preserved under this chapter or any regulation published thereunder;
(2)Question an employer, employee, or other person in the premises, place of business or employment, or work site;
(3)Require from any employer full and correct statements in writing, including sworn statements, upon forms prescribed or approved by the Department, with respect to the payment of wages, hours, names, addresses, and such other information pertaining to remuneration pertaining to employees, or require from any employer complete and accurate copies of written notices pertaining to independent contractors, which are maintained by the employer pursuant to § 3511(c) of this title;
(4)Investigate such facts, conditions, or matters as the Department may deem necessary or appropriate to determine whether a provision of this chapter or any regulation published thereunder has been or is being violated; and
(5)Administer oaths and examine witnesses under oath, issue subpoenas, compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers, books, accounts, records, payrolls, documents and testimony, and to take depositions and affidavits in any proceeding before it, and, in case of failure of any person or entity to comply with any subpoena lawfully issued, or on the refusal of any witness to testify to any matter regarding which the witness may be lawfully interrogated, the Superior Court, on application by the Department, shall compel obedience as in the case of disobedience of the requirements of a subpoena issued from such Court or a refusal to testify therein.
(d)Following an investigation in which the Department makes an initial determination that an employer has violated 1 or more of the provisions of this chapter or any regulation published hereunder, the Department shall notify an employer of such initial determination and shall provide the employer with an opportunity to appeal the Department’s determination in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act [Chapter 101 of Title 29]. Following notification of the employer and the opportunity for an administrative appeal of the Department’s initial determination, the Department may institute actions in the Superior Court for penalties for any violation of this chapter or any regulation published hereunder.
(e)Nothing contained in this chapter shall be deemed a limitation on any power or authority of the Department under any law of this State which may be otherwise applicable to the Department’s ability to administer or enforce the provisions of this chapter.