Chapter: I-3-9
Subject: Reopening and Post-Adjudicative
This transmittal amends Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual chapter I-3-9 to update procedures for how the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO) will process requests for clarification.
HALLEX I-3-9-95 – We removed “Administrative Law Judge” from the section title to better reflect that requests may come from the hearing office. We retitled subsection B “Hearing Office (HO) Actions” to better align with the structure of the other subsections, and we moved some content from subsection B to subsection C. We updated instructions in subsection B, NOTE, to reflect updates to OAO's process for handling paper files. We added a new subsection C.1. addressing how OAO screens clarification requests and created a new subsection C.1. to explain OAO's different actions for granting and denying clarification requests. We renumbered former subsection C.2. as C.3. and updated language in C.3.a. to clarify the Appeals Council (AC)'s actions in vacating a prior AC remand and to address situations where the AC may combine the vacate order with the final action. We updated language from subsection D regarding the comment period given to claimants after the remand order is vacated. We updated language in subsection D to clarify branch chief actions after the AC vacate order is issued. We also made minor editorial changes throughout the section to add clarity.
Date: September 6, 2024