Background

This transmittal amends chapter I-5-1 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to update the procedures for conducting administrative law judge (ALJ) hearings using video teleconferencing (VTC). These revisions were necessary to reflect recent regulatory changes with respect to obtaining telephone testimony and other changes regarding scheduling hearings by VTC.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We made changes to Temporary Instruction I-5-1-16 as follows:

I-5-1-16 I – We removed language that is now outdated and modified the title accordingly.

I-5-1-16 II – We removed unnecessary language and made minor modifications to reflect our current practices.

I-5-1-16 III – We updated the language to adhere more closely to the regulatory language and to reflect our current practices. We also removed unnecessary language throughout. We added a NOTE in subsection A to reference our rules relating to a change in residence address. In subsection B, we added language stating that an ALJ determines the manner of appearance for any person other than the claimant, and we updated the instructions relating to a claimant's objection. In subsection E, we updated the link for instructions relating to scheduling and placing video calls.

I-5-1-16 IV – We made minor editorial corrections.

I-5-1-16 V – We updated the relevant contact information.

I-5-1-16 VI – We added a reference to the most-recent final rules.

Attachment 1 (Final Rules) – We inserted a link to a copy of the most-recent final rules.

Attachment 3 (Sample Notice) – We removed this Attachment as the notice has been in place for approximately ten years and is fully accessible through the Document Generation System.

Date: December 11, 2013