Responding to a complaint may be self-explanatory. But handling a complaint or bringing forth your own can require figuring out whether it belongs in a courtroom or on a bureaucrat's desk. You may need legal help to sort this out. First, you have to go through any dispute resolution process available in a government agency before you may bring a lawsuit in a court of law. For example, an employee filing a discrimination complaint may need to start with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which may grant a hearing after an initial review.
Administrative hearings have very different standards than courtrooms .
There's no jury, and the judge, usually called a hearing officer, is well versed in the field. A broader range of evidence and testimony is allowed than with lawsuits in a courtroom, and there may be fewer ways to keep potentially relevant material from being considered. With most issues, the decision will likely be based entirely on the written record submitted. If, for example, you wanted to contest your property tax assessment, you may only be required to fill out forms and submit a recent appraisal or evidence of similar, lower-priced properties nearby. If you don't like the hearing officer's decision, you may have to appeal to another level of administrative judge before you can turn to the civil courts.