Ohio Administrative Code › Title 901:3 - Food Safety › Chapter 901:3-4 - Retail Food Establishments-Licensing › Section 901:3-4-08 - Appeal procedures

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
(A) This rule prescribes procedures for
			 appealing the proposed denial, suspension, or
			 revocation of a retail food establishment license and appealing the suspension
			 of a license for a violation presenting a clear and present danger to the
			 public health. An appeal of a proposed denial, suspension, or revocation of an endorsement on a retail food
			 establishment license and appeal of the suspension of an endorsement on a
			 license for a violation presenting a clear and present danger to the public
			 health shall be conducted in the same manner.
(B) In the case of a proposal to deny,
			 suspend, or revoke a retail food establishment license, the licensor shall
			 provide the license holder with written notice of the proposed action and the
			 cause for the action. The notice shall describe the procedure for appealing the
			 proposed denial, suspension, or revocation.
(1) The licensor shall provide written notice
			 by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by hand delivery. If the notice
			 is returned because of failure of delivery, the licensor shall send the notice
			 by regular mail to the retail food establishment location listed on the license
			 or conspicuously post the notice at an entrance of the operation, and posting
			 or mailing constitutes notice.
(2)
			 After receiving the notice, to obtain a hearing, the license holder must submit
			 a written request that the licensor receives within fifteen days.
(3) The licensor shall schedule a hearing
			 before the licensor or a hearing officer designated by the licensor. If the
			 licensor provides a hearing officer, the hearing officer shall be licensed
			 to practice law in Ohio and shall not have participated in any manner in the
			 decision to take the action against the license holder.
(4) The licensor shall mail or hand-deliver
			 notice of the date, time, and place of the hearing to the license holder no
			 less than ten days before the scheduled date.
(5) At the hearing, the license holder shall
			 have the opportunity to present the license holder's case orally or in writing and to
			 confront and cross-examine witnesses. The license holder may be represented by
			 counsel and may review the case record before the hearing. If the licensor is a
			 board of health of a city or general health district or the authority having
			 the duties of the board of health under section
			 3709.05 of the Revised Code, and
			 a hearing officer has been designated, a member of that board does not have to
			 be present at the hearing.
(6) If
			 the hearing is before a hearing officer, the hearing officer shall prepare a
			 written recommendation as to the validity of the licensor's action, which shall
			 rest solely on the evidence presented at the hearing and the statutory and
			 regulatory provisions governing the licensor's action. The hearing officer
			 shall describe the basis for the hearing officer's recommendation, but need not
			 prepare a full opinion or formal findings of fact and conclusions of law. The
			 hearing officer shall mail by certified mail, return receipt requested, or
			 hand-deliver the recommendation to the licensor and the license holder. Either
			 party may file objections to the recommendation provided that the objections
			 are received by the licensor within five days of receiving a copy of the
			 recommendation from the hearing officer.
(7) After reviewing any timely objections,
			 the licensor may by motion take additional evidence or approve, modify, or
			 disapprove the hearing officer's recommendation and shall enter an order in the
			 record of the proceedings.
(8) If the licensor does not receive a timely
			 request for a hearing, the licensor may immediately enter an order as proposed
			 in the notice.