658.417—Hearings.
(a)
Hearings shall be held by State hearing officials. A State hearing official may be any State official authorized to hold hearings under State law. They may be, for example, the same referees who hold hearings under the State unemployment compensation law or any official of the State agency, authorized by State law to preside at State administrative hearings.
(b)
The State hearing official may decide to conduct hearings on more than one complaint concurrently if he/she determines that the issues are related or that the complaints will be handled more expeditiously in this fashion.
(g)
The State hearing official may elicit testimony from witnesses, but shall not act as advocate for any party.
(h)
The State hearing official shall receive and include in the record, documentary evidence offered by any party and accepted at the hearing. Copies thereof shall be made available by the party submitting the document to other parties to the hearing upon request.
(i)
Technical rules of evidence shall not apply to hearings conducted pursuant to this section, but rules or principles designed to assure production of the most credible evidence available and to subject testimony to test by cross-examination, shall be applied where reasonably necessary by the State hearing official. The State hearing official may exclude irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence.
(j)
The case record, or any portion thereof, shall be available for inspection and copying by any party at, prior to, or subsequent to the hearing upon request. Special procedures may be used for disclosure of medical and psychological records such as disclosure to a physician designated by the individual.
(k)
The State hearing official shall, if feasible, resolve the dispute by conciliation at any time prior to the conclusion of the hearing.
(l)
At the State hearing official's discretion, other appropriate individuals, organizations, or associations may be permitted to participate in the hearing as amicus curiae (friends of the court) with respect to specific legal or factual issues relevant to the complaint. Any documents submitted by the amicus curiae shall be included in the record.
(m)
The following standards shall apply to the location of hearings involving parties in more than one State or in locations within a State but which are separated geographically so that access to the hearing location is extremely inconvenient for one or more parties as determined by the State hearing official.
(1)
Whenever possible, the State hearing official shall hold a single hearing, at a location convenient to all parties or their representatives wishing to appear and present evidence, and with all such parties and/or their representatives present.
(2)
If a hearing location cannot be established by the State hearing official pursuant to paragraph (m)(1) of this section, the State hearing official may conduct, with the consent of the parties, the hearing by a telephone conference call from a State agency office with all parties and their representatives not choosing to be present at that location permitted to participate in the hearing from their distant locations.
(3)
Where the State agency does not have the facilities to conduct hearings by telephone pursuant to paragraph (m)(1) or (m)(2) of this section, the State agencies in the States where the parties are located shall take evidence and hold the hearing in the same manner as used for appealed interstate unemployment claims in those States, to the extent that such procedures are consistent with § 658.416.