Background

This transmittal amends section I-3-2-50 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to update instructions for processing a recommended decision issued by an administrative law judge (ALJ). We also changed the title to more accurately reflect the purpose of the section and made minor editorial and formatting changes.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We revised section I-3-2-50 as follows:

HALLEX I-3-2-50 – We retitled the section “Administrative Law Judge Recommended Decisions” to more accurately reflect the section's content.

HALLEX I-3-2-50 A – We added subsection A titled “In General” and provided helpful references to other HALLEX provisions.

HALLEX I-3-2-50 B – We added subsection B titled “When the Appeals Council Will Direct That the ALJ Issue a Recommended Decision,” and included instructions on when the Appeals Council may find it necessary to direct an ALJ to issue a recommended decision.

HALLEX I-3-2-50 C – We added subsection C titled “Receipt of a Recommended Decision,” incorporated the information previously in the section and removed information that was duplicative of HALLEX I-2-8- 15. We updated the procedures consistent with our current practices.

HALLEX I-3-2-50 D – We added subsection D titled “Recommended Decision Cover Letter Mistakenly Issued” and explained that the Appeals Council will process a claimant's statements as a request for review of the ALJ's decision when the facts show that the ALJ intended to issue a decision, but the ALJ attached the incorrect cover notice to the decision.

Date: March 2, 2015