Background

This transmittal amends chapter I-2-8 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to update instructions for issuing decisions when a claim is pending in or remanded from Federal court. We also made minor editorial and formatting changes.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We revised HALLEX chapter I-2-8 as follows:

HALLEX I-2-8-16 – We changed the title to “Administrative Law Judge Decision When Prior Claim is Pending in Court” to more accurately reflect the purpose of the section. We made minor language and formatting changes to update the instructions.

HALLEX I-2-8-18 – We changed the title to “Administrative Law Judge Decision When Case Remanded by Court” to more accurately reflect the purpose of the section.

HALLEX I-2-8-18 A – We made significant organization changes to the information for clarity and removed unnecessary language. We clarified the policy, added a note, and made the provision consistent with changes to HALLEX I-3-1-92. We moved information regarding dismissals to new HALLEX section I-2-4-37.

HALLEX I-2-8-18 B – We removed outdated sub-subsections and other information that was duplicative of instructions in HALLEX I-2-1-55. We retained two sub-subsections titled “Initial Review of the Order and Assignment of Case” and “Actions After a Case Is Assigned.” We updated the remaining instruction and included citations to other HALLEX sections where appropriate.

HALLEX I-2-8-18 C – We removed information that was duplicative of information in HALLEX I-1-2, and clarified that an ALJ can only authorize a fee for services before the agency. We removed outdated instructions for notifying the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) of all fee authorizations but noted that the hearing office will provide a fee authorization to OGC on request.

Date: November 20, 2014