Background

This transmittal amends chapter I-3-1 of the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual to provide instructions for handling missing or inaudible hearing recordings.

Explanation of Content and Changes

HALLEX I-3-1 is amended as follows:

I-3-1-12 – We changed the title to “Screening for Hearing Recording” and added subsection A titled “Determining Whether There Is a Hearing Recording.” We incorporated and updated information previously in the section, adding procedures for electronic claim(s) file processing. We added subsection B, titled “Hearing Recording is Missing or Inaudible,” and added procedures for addressing a missing or inaudible hearing recording. We also added a subsection C, titled “Hearing Office Notifies OAO of Omissions or Inaudible Hearing Recording,” and noted the Appeals Council will use its usual procedures to process these requests.

I-3-1-23 – In subsection D, we added NOTE 2 to reference instructions if the claim(s) file is available but the hearing recording is missing or inaudible.

Date: January 14, 2016