Background

This transmittal amends section I-2-4-25 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual Chapter I-2-4, primarily to clarify when an administrative law judge (ALJ) may dismiss a request for hearing when a representative withdraws shortly at or shortly before the hearing and the claimant does not appear at the scheduled hearing.

Explanation of Content and Changes

This transmittal revises section I-2-4-25 to update and clarify the dismissal process when a claimant fails to appear at the time and place of a scheduled hearing. We are making these revisions to provide clear instructions for the ALJ when a representative withdraws at or shortly before a hearing and the claimant does not appear at the scheduled hearing. We also made significant editorial changes to provide ALJs with better instruction on contact and good cause procedures. Other than the specific changes noted below, the editorial changes generally do not reflect a change to existing policy.

I-2-4-25 A – We revised the title and incorporated information into the subsection that previously appeared in subsection G to better distinguish failure to appear procedures from the situation where claimant or representative (or both) appear at the hearing, but do not appear on time.

I-2-4-25 B – We revised the title and content of the subsection to define good cause and introduce the associated regulatory provisions. We moved procedural instructions to subsection C and simplified the remaining language.

I-2-4-25 C – We modified the title of the subsection to more clearly state that the ALJ must consider good cause for failure to appear. We incorporated procedural instructions previously included in subsection B. We also revised the sub-subsection titles and content to clarify when an ALJ must develop good cause for failure to appear. We deleted unnecessary references to the Notice to Show Cause for Failure to Appear to eliminate confusion between the terms “show cause” and “good cause.” We also made other minor editorial and organizational changes.

I-2-4-25 D – To reduce confusion, we changed the title of the subsection to remove the reference to constructive waiver of the right to appear at a hearing. We added processing instructions for situations in which a representative withdraws at the hearing and added a NOTE regarding the possible applicability of representative misconduct provisions. We added sub-subsection titles to distinguish between instances when a representative appears at the hearing and withdraws and when a representative appears and continues to represent the claimant. We also made other minor editorial changes.

I-2-4-25 E – We made minor editorial changes for consistency within the provision.

I-2-4-25 F – We made minor editorial changes for consistency within the provision.

I-2-4-25 G – We removed the subsection and incorporated the information into subsection A.

Date: May 17, 2013