Background

This transmittal amends sections I-1-2-44 and I-1-2-49 in chapter I-1-2 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to provide processing instructions for certain fee authorization issues when a case is adjudicated by a National Hearing Center (NHC) administrative law judge (ALJ). We made minor editorial changes throughout the two sections.

Explanation of Content and Changes

In addition to minor editorial changes, we revised HALLEX I-1-2-44 and I-1-2-49 as follows:

I-1-2-44 C – We clarified that in cases adjudicated by an NHC ALJ, the Regional Chief ALJ (RCALJ) with jurisdiction over the hearing office that transferred the case to the NHC will review the fee amount authorized under the fee agreement process.

I-1-2-44 E – We updated the NOTE to incorporate references for referring possible fee-related misconduct issues and possible fraud or criminal violations.

I-1-2-49 A – We incorporated a NOTE to explain that the RCALJ who has jurisdiction over the hearing office that transferred the case to the NHC is responsible for reviewing incorrectly approved fee agreements. We included helpful information about effectuating components and specified the appropriate procedures when an effectuating component misroutes a protest memo.

I-1-2-49 B – We explained that when an NHC ALJ incorrectly approves a fee agreement, the RCALJ who has jurisdiction over the hearing office that transferred the case to the NHC has jurisdiction to review the issue.

Date: January 13, 2015