At the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the Office of Public Hearings (OPH) is responsible for scheduling and conducting all phases of the public hearing process in contested discrimination cases under the Commission's jurisdiction and in certain types of whistleblower retaliation cases. Within the OPH, the Chief Human Rights Referee administers the operations of the unit and assigns cases to the other Human Rights Referees. All of the referees are gubernatorial appointees, subject to legislative approval, who function independently from the rest of the Commission.