I-2-3-15.Notice of Hearing

A. When to Mail the Notice of Hearing

Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) management, through designated staff, must send a notice of hearing to the claimant and the appointed representative, if any, at least 75 days before the date set for a hearing, unless the claimant waives the right to advance notice in writing. See Hearings, Appeals, and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual I-2-3-25 for more information about a waiver of advance notice of hearing.

For an amended notice of hearing or a notice of supplemental hearing, OHO staff must send the notice at least 20 days before the date of the hearing. The date of hearing indicated in an amended notice of hearing or notice of supplemental hearing must be at least 75 days from the date OHO staff first sent the claimant a notice of hearing unless the claimant waives the right to advance notice. See HALLEX I-2-3-30 for instructions on sending an amended notice of hearing for a postponement, and HALLEX I-2-3-35 for instructions on sending a notice of a continuance of hearing. OHO staff will also add a copy of the notice of hearing and any notice of amended or supplemental hearings to the B section of the claim(s) file.

Refer to Standard Hearings Operation Procedure (SHOP) section 4.3.1 for mailing guidelines for centrally printed and manually mailed notices.

B. Verifying the Claimant's Address

It is important to check for any update to the claimant's address before sending a notice of hearing. In addition to querying the Hearings and Appeals Case Processing System (HACPS), OHO staff will check each of the Personal Communications (PCOM) system queries, including:

• The Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) - Full Account Query (FACT) for title II cases;

• The Supplemental Security Income Display (SSID) for title XVI cases;

• The Modernized Development Worksheet (MDW) for either title;

• The Customer Service Record (CSR) for either title; and

• The Prisoner Update Processing System (PUPS) for either title.

To ensure that hearing office efforts to identify the claimant's current address are appropriately documented in the file, OHO staff will create and associate with the B section of the claim(s) file a form SSA-5002 “Report of Contact,” (ROC) documenting that the above-listed queries were run and reviewed. In the ROC, OHO staff will specify the queries reviewed, provide the date they ran and reviewed the queries, and state whether the queries yielded evidence of a new address or other contact information. OHO staff will record any updated contact information in the ROC. To protect against any potential disclosure of personally identifiable information (PII) of third parties contained in the queries, OHO staff will not copy, upload, or otherwise include the queries in the ROC or elsewhere in the record.

C. Notice of Hearing Forms

D. Information to Include in the Notice of Hearing

All notices of hearing must include:

• The claimant's proper name, the Beneficiary Notice Control (BNC) number on HACPS generated notices, whether an expert witness will appear, the HO or National Hearing Center address, the time and, for in-person or agency video appearances, the place set for the hearing.

• The claimant's manner of appearance and the manner of appearance for any other party to the hearing.

• The manner of appearance for any witness.

• If the claimant is scheduled to appear by agency video, the notice of hearing must state that the scheduled place for the hearing is an agency video site and must explain what it means to appear by agency video.

• If the claimant is appearing by audio, the notice of hearing must include the telephone number of record that will be used to call the claimant and must direct the claimant to call the hearing office immediately if the telephone number included on the notice is not correct.

• A statement of the issues to be decided and the claimant's right to object to those issues. See generally HALLEX I-2-2.

• A statement informing the claimant of the claimant's right to designate a representative.

• A statement informing the claimant that they may be reimbursed for travel expenses under certain circumstances.

• An explanation of the procedures for requesting a change in the time and, if applicable, place of the hearing.

• For appearances by online video, the notice of hearing must direct the claimant that if they no longer want to attend their hearing by online video, to notify the HO before the start of the hearing.

• A statement that the ALJ may dismiss the request for hearing if the claimant and the claimant's appointed representative both fail to appear at the scheduled hearing without good cause.

• A statement that the claimant must inform us about or submit written evidence that is not already in the record no later than 5 business days before the date of the scheduled hearing, unless good cause exists for missing that deadline.

• A statement that the ALJ may decline to consider additional evidence if the claimant informs us of it or submits it to us later than 5 business days before the date of the hearing, unless good cause exists to consider the evidence.

• A statement of the claimant's right to request the issuance of a subpoena. See HALLEX I-2-5-78.

• Any other information about the scheduling and conduct of the hearing that the ALJ believes the claimant must have.

E. Documenting the Hearing Information

OHO staff will follow the instructions in SHOP section 4.2 for documenting hearing information in HACPS, including the:

• Time and date of the hearing;

• Time zone(s) of the claimant and other participants;

• Site selection, if applicable, including off-network conferencing, multi-point bridge;

• Need for a language interpreter under HALLEX I-2-1-70 and I-2-6-10; and

• Need for a sign language interpreter or real time court reporter under HALLEX I-2-1-72 and I-2-6-12.