Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, June 1

The Employment Department is promulgating changes to Oregon Administrative Rule 471-040-0005. This rule establishes how Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit recipients and their employers may appeal the administrative decisions issued by the department by requesting a hearing with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). This change in rule will shift which section of the agency internally will handle processing of hearing requests, from the OAH to the UI Division. The department is amending this rule to improve agency efficiency. We also believe that this change will further demonstrate the OAH’s impartiality when handling appeals of decisions made by the department. The department is making three changes to the rule: 1. In addition to receiving requests by mail or by fax, the department will accept requests by e-mail or other electronic means as designated by the department on the appealable document. The department will no longer accept UI benefit hearing requests by telephone. 2. The department will no longer accept requests for hearing received by mail or by fax to the Office of Administrative Hearings. 3. Requests for hearing will continue to be filed provided the party specifically requests a hearing or otherwise expresses a present intent to appeal but the department will now require that it can be determined what issue or decision is being appealed. These changes do not diminish or limit the right to due process UI benefit recipients or their employers have in requesting a hearing. The transition period for this change in process will be three months. The Proposed Rulemaking Hearing for this change will occur on Friday, June 22, 2018 in the Auditorium at the Oregon Employment Department at 875 Union St NE, Salem, OR 97311 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Anyone interested in providing the department feedback on the rule is welcome to attend the public hearing in person. If you are unable to attend the hearing in person but want to provide comments on the rule, you have the option of calling the conference line at 888-850-4523 (Passcode # 440528). Written comments may also be submitted via e-mail to OED_Rules@oregon.gov by Friday, June 22, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. All comments received will be given equal consideration before the department proceeds with the permanent rulemaking. For more information on this, and other Employment Department Administrative Rules, visit our website: http://www.oregon.gov/EMPLOY/Agency/Pages/OED%20Administrative%20Rules.aspx