Background

This transmittal adds section I-3-7-45 to the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to set forth procedures when the post office returns a notice and order of remand 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-3-5-41, and I-3-8-30.

Explanation of Content and Changes

Section I-3-7-45 is organized as follows:

I-3-7-45 – We titled the section “Remand Order Returned As Undeliverable.”

I-3-7-45 A – We created a subsection titled “Claimant's Copy Returned As Undeliverable.” We added a sub-subsection titled “Claimant Is Represented” and stated that OAO staff will first attempt to obtain an updated address by contacting the appointed representative. We 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 sub-subsection titled “Locating a New Address,” and incorporated instructions consistent with current procedures. We added two additional sub-subsections titled “Updated Address Located” and “Updated Address Not Located.”

I-3-7-45 B – We added a subsection titled “Representative's Copy Returned As Undeliverable.” We stated that OAO staff will first attempt to contact a representative by telephone if the representative's copy of a remand order is returned as undeliverable and incorporated instruction if the representative cannot be located.

Date: January 13, 2015