(A) Staff hearing officers shall consider and decide all matters specified in division (B) of this section. All staff hearing officers are full-time employees of the industrial commission and shall be admitted to the practice of law in this state. Staff hearing officers shall not engage in any other activity that interferes with their full-time employment by the commission during normal working hours.

(B) Except as provided in division (D) of this section, staff hearing officers have original jurisdiction to hear and decide the following matters:

(1) Applications for permanent, total disability awards pursuant to section 4123.58 of the Revised Code;

(2) Appeals from an order of a district hearing officer issued under division (C) of section 4123.511 of the Revised Code;

(3) Applications for additional awards for violation of a specific safety rule of the administrator of workers' compensation pursuant to Section 35 of Article II of the Ohio Constitution;

(4) Applications for reconsideration pursuant to division (A) of section 4123.57 of the Revised Code. Decisions of the staff hearing officers on reconsideration pursuant to division (A) of section 4123.57 of the Revised Code are final.

(5) Reviews of settlement agreements pursuant to section 4123.65 of the Revised Code. Decisions of the staff hearing officer under that section are final and not appealable to the commission or to court under section 4123.511 or 4123.512 of the Revised Code.

(C) The decision of a staff hearing officer under division (D) of section 4123.511 of the Revised Code is the decision of the commission for the purposes of section 4123.512 of the Revised Code unless the commission hears an appeal under division (E) of section 4123.511 of the Revised Code.

(D) Staff hearing officers shall hold hearings on all matters referred to them for hearing. Hearing procedures shall conform to the rules the commission adopts pursuant to section 4121.36 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 09-29-1997 .