Background

This transmittal amends section I-3-5-41 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to update and clarify procedures when the post office returns a denial notice as “undeliverable” to the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO). We made these changes to reflect recent updates to HALLEX I-2-4-25, I-2-4-55, and I-2-8-55, and for consistency with concurrent updates to HALLEX I-3-4-55, I- 3-7-45, and I-3-8-30.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We revised section I-3-5-41 as follows:

I-3-5-41 A – We added a new subsection titled “Claimant's Copy Returned As Undeliverable.” We added a sub-subsection titled “Claimant Is Represented” and clarified that OAO staff will first attempt to obtain an updated address by contacting the appointed representative. We also clarified that if the appointed representative is unable to provide a new address, OAO staff must still take all remaining actions to locate an updated address. We added a new sub-subsection titled “Locating a New Address,” removed outdated instructions relating to querying public databases and records, and updated the instructions consistent with current procedures. We added two additional sub-subsections titled “Updated Address Located” and “Updated Address Not Located.” We made minor editorial changes to the language and incorporated appropriate instructions for electronic case processing.

I-3-5-41 B – We added a new subsection titled “Representative's Copy Returned As Undeliverable.” We added an instruction that OAO staff will first attempt to contact a representative by telephone if the representative's copy of a denial notice is returned as undeliverable. We made minor editorial and formatting changes and incorporated appropriate instructions for electronic case processing.

Date: January 13, 2015