Background

This transmittal amends chapter I-3-1 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual by revising the title of the chapter and updating processing instructions for the Office of Appellate Operations. In part, we updated the instructions by removing obsolete information, consolidating provisions, and rewriting instructions in plain language.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We revised chapter I-3-1 as follows:

HALLEX I-3-1-1 – We retitled this section “Overview- Analyst Actions on Requests for Review” and incorporated information formerly in HALLEX I-3-1-2 and I-3-1-3.

HALLEX I-3-1-2 – We completely removed this section as the information was incorporated into HALLEX I-3-1-1.

HALLEX I-3-1-3 – We completely removed this section as the information was incorporated into HALLEX I-3-1-1.

HALLEX I-3-1-9 – We added a new section titled “Actions Before Making Recommendations to the Appeals Council” and incorporated the information previously in HALLEX I-3-1-15. We added a new subsection A titled “Discussion with Appeals Council.” We also added a new subsection B titled “Obtaining Other Input” that incorporates information previously found in HALLEX I-3-1-14. We revised the language for consistency with current procedures, and included helpful citations to other HALLEX sections.

HALLEX I-3-1-12 – We retitled this section “Obtaining Earnings Information” to reflect more accurately the purpose of the section. We removed outdated information throughout the section. We made minor language changes to subsection A and moved some information to new subsection C. We retitled subsection B “Necessary Queries” and incorporated information consistent with our current procedures. We added a new subsection C titled “Un-posted Earnings” and incorporated information previously in subsection A.

HALLEX I-3-1-14 – We completely removed this section as the information was incorporated into HALLEX I-3-1-9.

HALLEX I-3-1-15 – We completely removed this section as the information was incorporated into HALLEX I-3-1-9.

HALLEX I-3-1-20 – We removed information that was duplicative of information in HALLEX I-3-3-1 and updated the instructions in subsection A. We made minor language changes to subsection B and added references to other HALLEX sections that address how to refer concerns about an administrative law judge's conduct. We removed outdated and unnecessary information previously included in subsection C. We retitled subsection C “Signature Rules” and incorporated information previously in HALLEX I-3-1-55.

HALLEX I-3-1-50 – We removed this section in its entirety as the information is outdated and no longer relevant.

HALLEX I-3-1-52 – We removed outdated information and made minor language changes. We incorporated information previously located in HALLEX I-3-1-100.

HALLEX I-3-1-53 – We added references to HALLEX I-2-1-10, the Office of Appellate Operations' electronic business process guide, and updated instructions relating to paper claim(s) files.

HALLEX I-3-1-54 – We removed this section in its entirety as the information is outdated and no longer relevant.

HALLEX I-3-1-55 – We removed this section in its entirety as the information was updated and incorporated in HALLEX I-3-1-20.

HALLEX I-3-1-99 – We removed this section in its entirety as the information is outdated and no longer relevant.

HALLEX I-3-1-100 – We removed this section in its entirety as the information previously in this section was incorporated into HALLEX I-3-1-52.

Date: October 21, 2014