Chapter: I-2-4
Subject: Notice of Hearing
This transmittal amends section I-2-4-25 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to update instructions to Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) staff to verify the claimant's address in situations where the claimant fails to appear at their hearing and to include a reference to I-2-0-80 which describes how staff and administrative law judges (ALJs) should consider the timeliness of responses to notices, decisions, dismissals, and other correspondence that are mailed through central print and for documents that are sent through manual mail. This transmittal also clarifies whom can appear on behalf of an adult claimant at a hearing and distinguishes between situations when a claimant and/or appointed representative fails to appear at a hearing due to an unforeseen event and where the claimant and/or appointed representative requests a change in time or place of the hearing prior to the hearing date.
This transmittal also contains changes throughout I-2-4-25 to incorporate inclusive language.
This transmittal revises HALLEX I-2-4-25 as follows:
I-2-4-25 A.3 – We clarified that a parent or other third party cannot appear at a hearing on behalf of an adult claimant unless that individual is the appointed representative for the claimant or the legal guardian of a claimant who has been determined to be legally incompetent.
I-2-4-25 C.1.a – We added language clarifying that if the claimant alleges they reported a new address to another agency component, such as the field office or teleservice center, but the agency sent the notice of hearing to an outdated address, the ALJ will review the Report of Contact (ROC) in the B section of the claim(s) file to confirm that the queries noted in HALLEX I-2-3-15 B were run and reviewed by Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) staff and carefully consider the allegation.
I-2-4-25 C.1.b – We included language to distinguish situations where the claimant and/or appointed representative fails to appear at a hearing due to an unforeseen event and situations where the claimant and/or appointed representative requests a change in the time and/or place of the hearing prior to the hearing.
I-2-4-25 C.2 – We clarified that OHO staff should provide a claimant and their appointed represented, if any, an additional three business days to respond to form HA-L90 “Request to Show Case for Failure to Appear,” if the form was sent by central print, and we included a reference to HALLEX I-2-0-80 for additional information on considering the timeliness of responses to centrally printed and manually mailed documents.
We also added language clarifying that OHO staff will create and associate with the B section of the claimant's claim(s) file a ROC documenting that the specified queries were run and reviewed. In the ROC, the staff member will specify the queries reviewed, provide the date they ran and reviewed the queries, and state whether the queries yielded evidence of a new address or other contact information. If so, the staff member will record the updated contact information in the ROC. Hearing office staff will not copy or otherwise include the queries in the ROC.
I-2-4-25 D.2 – We added a reference to HALLEX I-2-0-80 for instructions on how to consider the timeliness of responses to documents sent by central print.
Date: July 1, 2024