Background

This transmittal amends chapter I-4-4 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to update processing instructions for administrative law judge (ALJ) decisions and recommended decisions after court remand. We also made editorial and formatting changes.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We revised chapter I-4-4 as follows:

HALLEX I-4-4-1 – We made minor editorial changes.

HALLEX I-4-4-5 – We changed the title to “Final Decisions After Court Remand” to more clearly define the content of the section. In subsection A, we made minor formatting and editorial changes to more clearly explain the changes that occurred on September 13, 1989, following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Schaefer v. Shalala. In subsection B, we removed information that was duplicative of information recently incorporated into HALLEX I-4-3-1.

HALLEX I-4-4-20 – We removed outdated information and included a reference to updated procedures incorporated in HALLEX I-3-2-50. We added instructions for processing exceptions when the ALJ mistakenly uses a recommended decision cover letter but intended to issue a decision.

Date: March 2, 2015