Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 111 - Blind, Department for The › Chapter 8 - Appeals Process-business Enterprises Program › Rule 111-8.1 - Steps in Appeals Process

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
There are four steps in the appeals process of the Iowa
				department for the blind's business enterprises program:
1. Informal conciliation,
2. Hearing before the commission,
3. Full evidentiary hearing, and
4. Arbitration.
These steps must occur in the order in which they are listed
				and are more fully described herein, except that step 2 is optional.
(1)
Step 1: Informal
			 conciliation.
This is the necessary first step in the process to
			 resolve any grievance. Either the vendor or the staff can commence informal
			 conciliation. Informal conciliation must occur before any other steps in the
			 grievance process can be used.
Informal conciliation occurs all the time and is not usually
				given a name by the participants, but is sometimes called administrative
				review. It can, but does not necessarily, involve a personal meeting between
				the vendor and the staff. Informal conciliation occurs when either the vendor
				or the staff is dissatisfied with the action of the other and contacts the
				other to try to work out the dissatisfaction. This contact can be by phone, by
				letter, or in person and usually involves discussion and negotiation of the
				point over a period of time. Both vendor and staff have an interest in working
				out grievances informally since this is the least costly, least time-consuming,
				and least disruptive way of resolving differences. However, both the vendor and
				the staff have the right to stick to their opinion and to move to the next step
				in the grievance process if informal conciliation does not resolve the
				grievance in a manner satisfactory to them. If either the vendor or the staff
				remains dissatisfied after a good faith effort by both to resolve the
				grievance, then either vendor or staff can move to the next step.
(2)
Step 2: Hearing before
			 the commission.
This step is onlyavailable to the vendor The staff
			 cannot initiate a hearing before its own policy-making entity. This step is
			 simply an option for the vendor The vendor may choose to skip this step
			 completely and move directly from step I to step 3. If the vendor chooses to
			 skip step 2, the vendor has used all administrative remediesavailable to the
			 vendor, including the option to skip a remedy.
a. The commission makes its own rules
			 concerning procedure case-by-case at the hearing itself If either the vendor or
			 the staff is unsure about the procedure, the commission members should be asked
			 to explain the procedure before the hearing starts. These hearings are
			 generally informal, conducted by the commission so that both sides have an
			 opportunity to present to the commission whatever the commission believes is
			 relevant to the decision it is being asked to make.
b. It is possible that, under certain
			 circumstances, a hearing before the commission would be a closed hearing.
			 Unless all the proper circumstances exist to close the hearing, the hearing
			 must be held as a part of an open, publicized meeting of the commission and
			 listed on its agenda. One set of circumstances which could close such a hearing
			 will arise when the vendor is seeking, as a part of the commission's decision,
			 that the commission "evaluate the professional competency" of a department
			 staff member concerning that staff member's "appointment, hiring performance,
			 or discharge" and when that staff member asks the commission to go into closed
			 session as provided in the Iowa open meetings law, Iowa Code chapter
			 21.
c. Another set of circumstances
			 which could close the commission hearing may arise if the vendor or the staff
			 wishes to raise during the hearing matters which are considered confidential.
			 The documents which are confidential are likely to be very limited and the
			 decision to close the hearing or to leave it open will have to be made on a
			 case-by-case basis.
d. The Iowa
			 open meetings law, Iowa Code chapter 21, insists that only those meetings or
			 parts of meetings specifically exempted by a precise section of the law may be
			 legally closed; therefore, if an exemption is not specifically met, the meeting
			 of the commission under this subrule shall be open.
e. A vendor who has used this step in the
			 appeals process and is dissatisfied with the result then moves to step
			 3.
(3)
Step 3:
			 Full evidentiary hearing.
Either a vendor or the staff can commence
			 the full evidentiary hearing process, which is a required step in the appeals
			 process. A full evidentiary hearing is part of the appeals process guaranteed
			 to the vendor by the federal Randolph-Sheppard Act.
a. The full evidentiary hearing process is
			 governed by rule 8.2(216D).
b. If
			 the vendor is dissatisfied with the decision after a full evidentiary hearing,
			 then the vendor may move to step 4.
(4)
Step 4: Arbitration.
A
			 vendor can commence arbitration if dissatisfied with the ruling after a full
			 evidentiary hearing. Arbitration is a required step in the appeals process.
			 Arbitration is a part of the appeals process guaranteed to the vendor by the
			 federal Randolph-Sheppard Act. Essentially, arbitration occurs by the vendor's
			 filing a complaint with the United States Secretary of Education, who then
			 convenes a three-member arbitration panel. The vendor chooses one member of the
			 three-member arbitration panel, the department chooses the second member, and
			 those two persons choose a third person agreeable to both who serves as chair
			 of the arbitration panel.
At the full evidentiary hearing and the arbitration stages of
				the appeals process, proceedings shall be conducted much like proceedings in a
				court of law. Both these proceedings are open to the public. The department is
				normally represented at both by an assistant attorney general. The vendor may
				be represented by an attorney or by a knowledgeable friend at the commission
				hearing, the full evidentiary hearing, and the arbitration hearing. The
				court-reported record of testimony and the documents admitted into evidence at
				the arbitration step shall serve as the complete record of proceedings for any
				further appeals. No more evidence can be added if the vendor or the department
				appeals the arbitration panel's decision into the federal courts. Appeal from
				the arbitration decision goes to the federal district court and can go as far
				as the supreme court of the United States.