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Unemployment Benefits
How
to File an Appeal of a Hearing Officer’s Decision
(If you did not
participate in your hearing, and wish to request a new hearing,
click here.)
Step One: Submitting Your Appeal Letter
If you have received a hearing officer’s
decision and do not agree with it, you may file an appeal of that
decision with the Industrial Claim Appeals Office. For
Hearing Officer decisions mailed August 3, 2007 and after, appeals
to the Panel must be in writing and received within 20 calendar days
of the Hearing Officer decision. The
decision’s mailing date appears on the front of the decision.
Appeals may be handwritten or typed, and may be faxed, mailed, or
hand-delivered to this office, but the appeal must be postmarked or
received by this office within the fifteen-day time limit. If
the last day of the appeal period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or
legal holiday, the time limit is extended to the next day that is
not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
It is very important to file a timely
appeal, as appeals that are filed after the twenty-day time limit
can only be accepted if the Panel determines good cause has been
shown for the late appeal.
You do not need to include in your
initial appeal letter any arguments or statements about your case.
You will have an opportunity to submit a written statement
supporting your position at a later time. In your initial letter,
all that is required is a simple statement indicating you wish to
appeal the hearing officer’s decision. In that letter, you should
include the claimant’s name and social security number, the docket
number (which appears directly below the social security number on
the hearing officer’s decision), and your signature.
Appeals should be submitted to our
office, at the address for unemployment claims shown on the left, or
faxed to us at (303) 318-8139. The instructions for filing an
appeal of the hearing officer’s decision appear at the end of the
decision in an area labeled “Appeal Rights.”
If
you participated in your hearing, you cannot be granted a new
hearing without proceeding with an appeal. A new hearing would only
be conducted if, after considering your appeal, the Panel determines
there was an error or other irregularity that requires another
hearing before a hearing officer. The Panel does not hold hearings
or oral argument of any kind for the cases it considers.
Step Two: Your Written Argument
After an appeal is properly filed with
the Panel, a “Notice of Appeal to Industrial Claim Appeals Panel”
will be sent to all interested parties, and a copy of the appeal
letter will be sent to the non-appealing party. This provides
notice to all parties that an appeal has been filed.
A
transcript of the hearing tapes will then be prepared and mailed to
each party, along with a “Notice of Opportunity to File Brief.” This
Notice gives the parties twelve (12) calendar days to review the
record of the hearing and submit their brief. The same briefing
period applies to both parties, but parties are not required to
submit a brief. If the appealing party files a brief, a copy
of that brief will be sent to the non-appealing party, and that
party will then have ten (10) calendar days to submit a response.
Please note that a response brief is allowed
only if the appealing party files a brief. If the appealing
party does not file a brief, the non-appealing party will not have
any other opportunity to file a brief. Therefore, if the
non-appealing party wishes to make an argument in support of the
hearing officer’s decision, they should file a brief when they
receive the transcript and Notice of Opportunity to File Brief.
Example:
A claimant disagrees with the hearing officer’s decision in her
case, and timely submits an appeal to the Panel. A “Notice of
Appeal to Industrial Claim Appeals Panel” is sent to both parties,
and the employer is also sent a copy of the claimant’s appeal
letter. A transcript is prepared and mailed to both parties, and
both parties then have twelve days to file a brief. If the claimant
files a brief, the employer will be sent a copy of the claimant’s
brief, and will then have ten days in which to file a response. If
the claimant does not file a brief, and the employer failed to file
a brief during the initial twelve-day briefing period, the employer
would have no other opportunities to file a brief.
A brief, or written argument, is nothing more
than a written statement of the reasons you disagree with the
hearing officer’s decision. There is no particular format that must
be followed when submitting a written argument. Most parties simply
write a letter in which they outline the issues they wish the Panel
to consider. Appropriate issues to raise in the written argument
may include:
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The hearing officer failed to give
sufficient weight to certain evidence introduced at the hearing.
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The hearing officer improperly ruled against
requests you made during the hearing.
-
The decision is not supported by the facts.
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The decision is incorrect as a matter of
law.
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Other issues you may have with the decision
or how the hearing was conducted.
If there are specific examples in the
transcript that support your position, be sure to refer to them by
page number in your statement. When preparing your written
argument, be sure to include the name and Social Security number of
the claimant (or the company name, if a tax liability matter) and
the Docket Number (DD#).
A written argument is NOT an
invitation to submit “new” evidence that was not presented at the
hearing. It IS your opportunity to present statements based
on the evidence reflected in the transcript that point out the
factors the Panel should consider in making their decision. In
other words, this is your chance to say why you feel the hearing
officer’s decision should be changed or stay the way it is.
The
Panel has its own copy of the transcript, so it is not necessary for
you to submit your copy of the transcript with the brief/written
argument.
Once again, the
Panel does not hold hearings on the cases it considers. The
Panel’s review is based on the evidence and testimony presented at
the hearing before the hearing officer and any written arguments
submitted by the parties.
Step Three: The Decision
Based upon a review of the record, the Panel
will issue a new decision, which may affirm (keep the same), modify,
or reverse the hearing officer’s decision. Occasionally, the
Panel may remand (send back) the case to the hearing officer,
and another hearing may be scheduled for the taking of
additional evidence.
The
Panel is the final administrative review authority. If you
are not satisfied with the outcome of this appeal, you must petition
the Colorado Court of Appeals to review the case within 20 days from
the date that the Panel’s FINAL ORDER was mailed. However,
the Court of Appeals ordinarily cannot change any of the hearing
officer’s factual findings, nor can it consider any facts or
documents that were not part of the record before the hearing
officer.
The Court has a number
of procedures you must follow if you wish to file an appeal, and a
specific form for appeals of unemployment cases. You may
access those forms and procedures online.
Colorado Court of Appeals Procedures and Forms
If you have
questions about how to file an appeal with the Court of Appeals, you
may contact the Court at (303) 837-3785. The
Court also has an online document available to assist you.
Colorado Court of Appeals
ICAO Appellate Checklist (PDF)
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