44-607. Investigations and temporary findings. In case of a controversy arising between employers and workers, or between groups or crafts of workers, engaged in any of such industries, employments, public utilities, or common carriers, if it shall appear to the secretary of labor that the controversy may endanger the continuity or efficiency of service of any such industries, employments, public utilities or common carriers, or affect the production or transportation of the necessaries of life affected or produced by such industries or employments, or produce industrial strife, disorder or waste, or endanger the orderly operation of such industries, employments, public utilities or common carriers, and thereby endanger the public peace or threaten the public health, full power, authority and jurisdiction are hereby granted to the secretary of labor, upon the secretary's own initiative, to summon all necessary parties before the secretary and to investigate the controversy, and to make such temporary findings and orders as may be necessary to preserve the public peace and welfare and to preserve and protect the status of the parties, property and public interests involved pending such investigations, and to take evidence and to examine all necessary records, and to investigate conditions surrounding the workers, and to consider the wages paid to labor and the return accruing to capital, and the rights and welfare of the public, and all other matters affecting the conduct of such industries, employments, public utilities or common carriers, and to settle and adjust all such controversies by such findings and orders as provided in this act.
It is further made the duty of the secretary of labor, upon complaint of either party to such controversy, or upon complaint of any ten citizen taxpayers of the community in which such industries, employments, public utilities or common carriers are located, or upon the complaint of the attorney general of the state of Kansas, if it shall be made to appear to the secretary of labor that the parties are unable to agree and that such controversy may endanger the continuity or efficiency of service of any of the industries, employments, public utilities or common carriers, or affect the production or transportation of the necessaries of life affected or produced by such industries or employments, or produce industrial strife, disorder or waste, or endanger the orderly operation of such industries, employments, public utilities or common carriers, and thereby endanger the public peace or threaten the public health, to proceed and investigate and determine such controversy in the same manner as though upon the secretary's own initiative.
After the conclusion of any such hearing and investigation, and as expeditiously as possible, the secretary of labor shall make and serve upon all interested parties the secretary's findings, stating specifically the terms and conditions upon which the industry, employment, utility or common carrier should be thereafter conducted insofar as the matters determined by the secretary of labor are concerned.
History: L. 1920, ch. 29, § 7; R.S. 1923, 44-607; L. 1976, ch. 370, § 26; L. 2004, ch. 179, § 25; July 1.
Structure Kansas Statutes
Chapter 44 - Labor And Industries
Article 6 - Regulation Of Labor And Industry
44-601 Prescription of functions.
44-601b Same; children in industry; factory, workshop, mill and mine inspection.
44-603 Utilities and employments subject to supervision.
44-606 Continuity and efficiency in operation of industries.
44-607 Investigations and temporary findings.
44-608 Orders affecting hours, ways and conditions of employment; modification.
44-609 Rights and contracts of parties.
44-610 Notice of investigation or hearing; publication.
44-611 Powers in investigations.
44-612 Judicial review of secretary's actions.
44-614 Labor unions; collective bargaining.
44-615 Unlawful acts against witnesses and litigants.
44-616 Business operations; limitation or cessation, hearings; changing conditions.
44-617 Violations of act; quitting employment; picketing; intimidation.
44-618 Penalties for violating 44-601 to 44-628.
44-619 Inducing violation of act or orders; penalty.
44-620 Emergency control and operation.
44-621 Controversies between employer and employee; authority of secretary.
44-622 Evidence taking; examiner, appointment, qualifications, authority.
44-623 Orders as to minimum or standard wage; accounts pending investigations.
44-624 Industrial conditions and relations; investigations, inquiries.
44-625 Effect of act on other rights and remedies.
44-626 Construction of 44-601 to 44-628.
44-628 Partial invalidity of act.
44-631 Factory, mill and mine inspection.
44-634 Annual reports; duties as to labor and industrial pursuits; enforcement of laws.
44-638 Statistics and information by state and municipal officers.
44-639 State policy as to wages, hours and insanitary conditions.
44-640 Conditions of employment detrimental to health and welfare unlawful.
44-643 Wages, hours and conditions for learners, apprentices and minors.
44-646 Same; inspectors and clerical personnel.
44-647 Same; review of orders.