Background

This transmittal amends Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual chapter I-4-8 to update procedures for routing paper claim(s) files and hearing recordings. Office of Hearings Operations and Office of Appellate Operations staff now route paper claim(s) files with the hearing recording(s) to the Social Security Administration's National Records Center in Independence, Missouri, or if the claim is favorably decided, to the appropriate effectuating component. We also updated the procedures for initial processing of a correspondence related to an administrative law judge (ALJ) decision after court remand.

Explanation of Content and Changes

HALLEX I-4-8-10 – We removed the information in former HALLEX I-4-8-10 because it was outdated, and we incorporated the information from former HALLEX I-4-1-15 A and B.1. We retitled HALLEX I-4-8-10 “Initial Processing of Administrative Law Judge Decisions After Court Remand.” Subsection A provides general background information about paper claim(s) file routing for cases with an ALJ decision after court remand. Subsection B incorporates the information about routing a correspondence from former HALLEX I-4-8-15 A. Information previously in HALLEX I-4-8-15 B.1. went into subsection C with updated instructions for establishing case controls, requesting a paper claim(s) file, and reviewing a correspondence. We also made minor editorial and formatting changes throughout the section.

HALLEX I-4-8-15 – We moved the information from subsections A and B.1. to HALLEX I-4-8-10 B and C. We also removed this section because the remaining instructions were outdated or duplicative of information in HALLEX I-4-8-20.

HALLEX I-4-8-20 – In subsection A, we explained that Court Case Preparation and Review Branch staff will hold the paper claim(s) file in a sentence four case for six months after the time period for filing exceptions expires. We reorganized subsection B for consistency with HALLEX formatting guidelines. In sub-subsection B.1., we clarified that the agency presumes that a claimant will receive an ALJ decision five days after the date of the notice of the ALJ decision. In sub-subsection B.3., we updated the routing instructions for paper claim(s) files. In addition, we removed subsection C because the information was duplicative of the information in sub-subsection B.3. We also made minor editorial changes throughout the section.

HALLEX I-4-8-35 – We updated the procedures for obtaining paper claim(s) files, incorporated the information in the NOTEs into bullets, and reordered the bullets to more closely follow the order of actual case processing. We incorporated the information formerly in subsection C into subsection A and retitled subsection A “Appeals Council Declines to Assume Jurisdiction or Issues Unfavorable Decision” to more accurately reflect the combined information. We moved the information formerly in subsection D into subsection C, and we removed subsection D. We also made minor editorial and formatting changes throughout the section.

Date: December 8, 2017