Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2002/03/29/02-7392/requests-for-reconsideration-and-appeals-within-the-board
Timestamp: 2017-08-24 09:59:47
Document Index: 176243208

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 260', 'art 320', 'art 260', '§\u2009260', '§\u2009260', 'arts 260', '§\u2009320', '§\u2009260', 'arts 260', 'art 260', '§\u2009260', '§\u2009260', '§\u2009260', '§\u2009320', 'art 323', '§\u2009320', 'art 340', '§\u2009320', '§\u2009320', '§\u2009320']

A Proposed Rule by the Railroad Retirement Board on 03/29/2002
Comments shall be submitted on or before May 28, 2002.
15127-15132 (6 pages)
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/02-7392 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/02-7392
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 15127
The Railroad Retirement Board (Board) proposes to amend its regulations to simplify the procedures with respect to requests for reconsideration and appeals within the Board. These amendments clarify the appeals procedures and make the regulations more readable and understandable to the public.
Part 260 of the Board's regulations deals generally with administrative review of denials of claims or requests for waiver of overpayments under the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). Part 320 deals with the same matters under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA). The Board believes this process can be streamlined without diminishing the rights of claimants in the administrative review process. In addition, the Board believes that part 260 can be made more readable and thus more understandable to the public.
Specifically, the Board proposes to amend § 260.2 to clarify that the procedure applicable to the appeal of a decision denying the crediting of compensation also applies to the crediting of service months under the RRA. Sections 260.3(d) and 320.10(e) are amended to add as possible good cause for failure to file a timely reconsideration request or appeal within the agency that the claimant believed his or her representative had filed such a request or appeal. In order to protect an appellant where he or she may have a problem obtaining appeal forms, §§ 260.5(b), 260.9(b), 320.12, and 320.39 are amended to provide that the right to appeal is protected by the submission of a written request received within the appeal period stating an intent to appeal, if the claimant files the appeal form within the 30-day period following the date of the letter sending the form to the claimant.
A request for waiver of an overpayment must be filed within 60 days of the notice of overpayment. Sections 260.4(c) and 320.11(f) provide that the Board will still consider a request for waiver filed after the 60-day time period, but may proceed to collect the overpayment and that any amounts collected prior to the request for waiver will not be waived.
The amendments amend both parts 260 and 320 to delay recovery of an erroneous payment when a timely appeal is filed with the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals (new paragraphs 260.5(d) and 320.12(c)) and also when a timely appeal is filed with the three-member Board (new paragraphs 260.9(d) and 320.39(b)).
Sections 260.9(d) and (e) clarify that new evidence will ordinarily not be accepted on appeal to the three-member Board from a decision of a hearings officer, but that argument will be accepted. A new § 320.40(d) parallels § 260.9(e). Sections 260.10 and 320.49 provide that the date of postmark shall be considered the date of filing a document with the Board. Finally, a number of nomenclature changes are made to reflect a recent reorganization.
Sections 260.10 and 320.49 are revised to state that as a general rule a document is filed on the day it is received by the Board but that the date of a postmark or other evidence of the date of mailing may be used to establish a filing date. The Board, with the concurrence of the Office of Management and Budget, has determined that this is not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order 12866. Therefore, no regulatory impact analysis is required. Information collections associated with this rule have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 3220-0007.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Railroad Retirement Board proposes to amend title 20, chapter II, parts 260 and 320 of the Code of Federal Regulations as follows:
Authority: 45 U.S.C. 231f; 45 U.S.C. 231g; 45 U.S.C. 355. 2. The heading of part 260 is revised to read as follows:
3. The heading of § 260.1, and introductory paragraph (a) of this section are revised to read as follows:
4. In §§ 260.1(b), 260.1(d)(1), and (d)(2), remove the words “Director of the appropriate bureau or office” and “appropriate bureau or office” wherever they appear, and add in their place the word “Board'.
(f) Personal conference. The beneficiary shall upon request have the opportunity to review, prior to the personal conference, his or her claim folder and all documents pertinent to the issues raised. A personal conference conducted under this section shall be informal. At the personal conference the beneficiary shall be afforded the following rights: Start Printed Page 15129
(1) To present his or her case orally and to submit evidence, whether through witness or documents;
(b) Appeal from a reconsideration decision. Appeal from a reconsideration decision shall be made by filing the form prescribed by the Board for such purpose. Such appeal must be filed with the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals within 60 days from the date upon which notice of the reconsideration decision is mailed to the claimant. Any written request stating an intent to appeal which is received within the 60-day period will protect the claimant's right to appeal, provided that the claimant files the appeal form within the later of the 60-day period following the date of the reconsideration decision, or the 30 day period following the date of the letter sending the form to the claimant.
(c) Right to review of a reconsideration decision. The right to review of a reconsideration decision shall be forfeited unless an appeal is filed in the manner and within the time prescribed in this section. However, when a claimant fails to file an appeal with the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals within the time prescribed in this section, the hearings officer may waive this requirement of timeliness. Such waiver shall only occur in cases where the claimant has made a showing of good cause for failure to file a timely appeal. Good cause for failure to file a timely appeal will be determined by a hearings officer in the manner prescribed in § 260.3(d) of this part.
(e) Impartial review. Within 30 days after the claimant has filed a proper appeal, the Director of Hearings and Appeals shall appoint a hearings officer to act on the appeal. The Director of Hearings and Appeals may, if the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals' caseload dictates, appoint a qualified Board employee, other than a hearings officer assigned to the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, to act as a hearings officer with respect to a case. Such hearings officer shall not have any interest in the parties or in the outcome of the proceedings, shall not have directly participated in the initial decision or the reconsideration decision from which the appeal is made, and shall not have any other interest in the matter which might prevent a fair and impartial decision.
(3) The hearings officer shall rule on any objection timely filed by a party under this paragraph (i) and shall notify the party of his or her ruling thereon. The hearings officer may for good cause shown, or upon his or her own motion, reschedule the time and/or place of the Start Printed Page 15130hearing. The hearings officer also may limit or expand the issues to be resolved at the hearing.
(l) Hearing by telephone. In the discretion of the hearings officer, any hearing required under this part may be conducted by telephone conference. (The information collection requirements contained in paragraph (b) were approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 3220-0007)
(b) Appeal from decision of hearings officer. Final appeal from a decision of a hearings officer shall be made by the execution and filing of the final appeal form prescribed by the Board. Such appeal must be filed with the Board within 60 days from the date upon which notice of the decision of the hearings officer is mailed to the appellant at the last address furnished by him or her. Any written request stating an intent to appeal which is received within the 60-day period will protect the claimant's right to appeal, Provided that the claimant files the appeal form within the later of the 60-day period following the date of the reconsideration decision, or the 30 day period following the date of the letter sending the form to the claimant.
(e) Submission of additional evidence. Upon final appeal to the Board, the appellant shall not have the right to submit additional evidence. However, the Board may grant a request to submit new evidence where new and material evidence is available that, despite due diligence, was not available before the decision of the hearings officer was issued. The Board may also obtain new evidence on its own motion. Upon admission of new evidence, the Board, at its discretion, may:
13. In § 320.5, following the words “Director of”, remove the words “Unemployment and Sickness Start Printed Page 15131Insurance” and add in their place the words “Policy and Systems”.
(2) Whether a plan submitted by an employer or other person or company qualifies as a nongovernmental plan for unemployment, sickness insurance, within the meaning of part 323 of this chapter.
(5) The existence of an unusual or unavoidable circumstance which demonstrates that either the claimant or the base-year employer(s) would not have known of the need to file timely or which prevented either of them from filing in a timely manner.
16. In § 320.11, paragraphs (a) and (f) are revised to read as follows, and in paragraphs (d), (e), and (g), remove the words “Director of Unemployment and Sickness Insurance”, and add in their place the words “Debt Recovery Manager”; also, in paragraphs (d) and (g), remove the word “Director” and add in its place the word “Manager” wherever it appears.
(f) Requests made after 60 days. Nothing in this section shall be taken to mean that waiver of recovery will not be considered in those cases where the request for waiver is not filed within 60 days, but action to recovery the erroneous payment will not be deferred if such request is not filed within 60 days, and any amount of the erroneous payment recovered prior to the date on which the request is filed shall not be subject to waiver under part 340 of this chapter. Further, it shall not be considered that a claimant prejudices his or her request for waiver by tendering all or a portion of an erroneous payment or by selecting a particular method of repaying the debt. However, no waiver consideration shall be given to a debt which is settled by compromise.
(c) Where a timely appeal seeking waiver of recovery of an erroneous payment has been filed with the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, the Board shall not commence recovery of the erroneous payment by suspension or reduction of a monthly benefit payable by the Board until a decision with respect to such appeal seeking waiver has been made and notice thereof has been mailed to the claimant. Start Printed Page 15132
18. In § 320.25, paragraphs (a) and (b) are revised to read as follows:
(a) An appeal to the Board from the decision of a hearings officer shall be filed on the form provided by the Board and shall be executed in accordance with the instructions on the form. Such appeal shall be filed within 60 days from the date upon which notice of the decision of the hearings officer was mailed to the parties. The right to further review of a decision of a hearings officer shall be forfeited unless formal final appeal is filed in the manner and within the time prescribed in this section. Any written request stating an intent to appeal which is received within the 60-day period will protect the claimant's right to appeal, Provided that the claimant files the appeal form within the later of the 60-day period following the date of the reconsideration decision, or the 30-day period following the date of the letter sending the appeal form to the claimant. However, when a party fails to file an appeal before the Board within the time prescribed in this section, the Board may waive this requirement if along with the final appeal, the party in writing requests an extension of time. The request for an extension of time must give the reasons why the final appeal form was not filed within the time limit prescribed in this section. If in the judgment of the Board the reasons given establish that the party has good cause for not filing the final appeal form within the time limit prescribed, the Board will consider the appeal to have been filed in a timely manner. The Board will use the standards found in § 320.10(e) of this part in determining if good cause exists.
21. The heading of § 320.40 is revised, and a new paragraph (d) is added to read as follows:
By Authority of the Board, for the Board,
[FR Doc. 02-7392 Filed 3-28-02; 8:45 am]