(a) Hearings shall be held by State hearing officials. A State
hearing official may be any State official authorized to hold hearings
under State law. They may be, for example, the same referees who hold
hearings under the State unemployment compensation law and/or the Work
Incentive Program or any official of the State agency, authorized by
State law to preside at State administrative hearings.
(b) The State hearing official may decide to conduct hearings on
more than one complaint concurrently if he/she determines that the
issues are related or that the complaints will be handled more
expeditiously in this fashion.
(c) The State hearing official, upon the referral of a case for a
hearing, shall:
(1) Notify all involved parties of the date, time and place of the
hearing; and
(2) Re-schedule the hearing, as appropriate.
(d) In conducting a hearing the State hearing official shall:
(1) Regulate the course of the hearing;
(2) Issue subpoenas, if empowered to do so under State law, if
necessary;
(3) Assure that all relevant issues are considered;
(4) Rule on the introduction of evidence and testimony; and
(5) Take any other action which is necessary to insure an orderly
hearing.
(e) The testimony at the hearing shall be recorded and may be
transcribed when appropriate.
(f) The parties shall be afforded the opportunity to present,
examine, and cross-examine witnesses.
(g) The State hearing official may elicit testimony from witnesses,
but shall not act as advocate for any party.
(h) The State hearing official shall receive and include in the
record, documentary evidence offered by any party and accepted at the
hearing. Copies thereof shall be made available by the party submitting
the document to other parties to the hearing upon request.
(i) Technical rules of evidence shall not apply to hearings
conducted pursuant to this section, but rules or principles designed to
assure production of the most credible evidence available and to subject
testimony to test by cross-examination, shall be applied where
reasonably necessary by the State hearing official. The State hearing
official may exclude irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious
evidence.
(j) The case record, or any portion thereof, shall be available for
inspection and copying by any party at, prior to, or subsequent to the
hearing upon request. Special procedures may be used for disclosure of
medical and psychological records such as disclosure to
a physician designated by the individual.
(k) The State hearing official shall, if feasible, resolve the
dispute by conciliation at any time prior to the conclusion of the
hearing.
(l) At the State hearing official's discretion, other appropriate
individuals, organizations, or associations may be permitted to
participate in the hearing as amicus curiae (friends of the court) with
respect to specific legal or factual issues relevant to the complaint.
Any documents submitted by the amicus curiae shall be included in the
record.
(m) The following standards shall apply to the location of hearings
involving parties in more than one State or in locations within a State
but which are separated geographically so that access to the hearing
location is extremely inconvenient for one or more parties as determined
by the State hearing official.
(1) Whenever possible, the State hearing official shall hold a
single hearing, at a location convenient to all parties or their
representatives wishing to appear and present evidence, and with all
such parties and/or their representatives present.
(2) If a hearing location cannot be established by the State hearing
official pursuant to paragraph (m)(1) of this section, the State hearing
official may conduct, with the consent of the parties, the hearing by a
telephone conference call from a State agency office with all parties
and their representatives not choosing to be present at that location
permitted to participate in the hearing from their distant locations.
(3) Where the State agency does not have the facilities to conduct
hearings by telephone pursuant to paragraph (m)(1) or (m)(2) of this
section, the State agencies in the States where the parties are located
shall take evidence and hold the hearing in the same manner as used for
appealed interstate unemployment claims in those States, to the extent
that such procedures are consistent with Sec. 658.416.
