(a) Unless otherwise specified in this chapter, appeals time
frames are generally determined within these guidelines:
(1) as established in the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act;
and
(2) are extended one working day following a deadline which
falls on a weekend, an official state holiday, a state holiday for which minimal
staffing is required, or a federal holiday.
(b) Presumption of receipt. A document mailed to a party is
presumed to be received if the document was mailed to the complete, correct
address of record unless:
(1) there is tangible evidence of nondelivery, such as the
document being returned to the Agency by the United States Postal Service;
or
(2) credible and persuasive evidence is submitted to the Agency
to establish nondelivery, delayed delivery, or misdelivery of the document.
(c) Address for proper mailing.
(1) For a claimant, the proper address is the address given
by the claimant to the Agency subject to later changes given by the claimant
to the Agency.
(2) For an employer, the proper address is determined under §815.3
of this chapter (relating to Addresses) unless the employer has specifically
requested a mailing address change in a protest, appeal, or other correspondence,
or at a hearing.
(3) For governmental employers, the group account address shall
be used, if applicable.
(4) Mailing of notice to a party representative, whether or
not an attorney, is required to bind parties to timeliness rules.
(5) If a party provides the Agency with the party's own incorrect
mailing address, an Agency mailing to that address shall be a proper mailing,
even if there is proof that the document was never received by the party.
(6) The Agency is not responsible for effectuating an address
change when it is listed in correspondence or merely listed by a party on
an appeal filed in person, unless the Agency is specifically directed by the
party to mail subsequent notices to the address.
(7) If the Agency improperly addresses a document, the time
frame for filing an appeal shall begin to run as of the actual date of receipt
by the party, even if received by the party within the statutory appeal time
frame. However, this subsection does not apply if the party provided an incorrect
address under subsection (c)(5) of this section.
(8) Addresses shall be positively verified by hearing officers,
who shall also explain to parties the importance of the address being correct
and the fact that subsequent appeal deadlines run from the date of mailing,
not the date of receipt by the party.
(d) Receipt Date.
(1) Receipt date is date of receipt at the earliest of an Agency,
or agent state office, or a workforce center or a Board office.
(2) If an appeal is received at an agent state office or a
workforce center or a Board office(s), but the appeal is not dated by the
receiving entity, and is forwarded to the appeals (or interstate) processing
unit and is dated by that unit, then the appeal date shall be set at three
business days earlier than receipt in appeals (or interstate).
(e) Appeal Date.
(1) The appeal date for a document received via United States
Postal Service shall be the postmark date or the postal meter date (where
there is only one or the other); but where there is both a postmark date and
a postal meter date and they conflict, the postmark date controls.
(2) The date a document is delivered to a common carrier (such
as Federal Express, Purolator, or other common carrier) controls as the date
the appeal is perfected. (Delivery to carrier is equivalent to delivery to
United States Postal Service; date of delivery to carrier is equivalent to
postmark date.)
(3) An appeal received in an envelope bearing no legible postmark
or postal meter date shall be considered to be perfected three business days
before receipt by the Agency, or on the date of the document, if the document
date is less than three days earlier than date of receipt.
(4) If the mailing envelope is lost after delivery to the Agency,
appeal document date shall control. If the document is undated, appeal date
shall be three business days before receipt by the Agency, subject to sworn
testimony establishing an even earlier date.
(5) If a determination, decision or other written material
provides for an appeal by fax, or in an electronic form approved by the Agency
in writing, then the appeal date shall be the date and time the appeal is
received by the Agency.
(f) Sworn testimony can establish a date for an appeal being
perfected, which is earlier than the dates established under subsections (d)
and (e) of this section. Only in the face of extremely credible evidence shall
a party be allowed to establish an appeal date earlier than a postal meter
date, or the date of the document itself. When a party alleges filing an appeal
which the Agency has never received, the party must present credible and persuasive
testimony of timely filing corroborated by testimony of a disinterested party
and/or physical evidence specifically linked to the appeal in question.
(g) Credible and persuasive testimony subject to cross-examination
establishing timeliness allows the Agency or the appeal tribunal to rule on
the merits.
(h) If a party submits an address change to the Agency during
the appeal period (but after the Agency document was mailed to the old address),
address change date shall control and shall be considered as the date the
appeal was perfected.
(i) Exceptions. The substantive nature of certain cases causes,
or creates, exceptions to the general timeliness rules, even where notice
is proper or response is clearly late.
(1) Cases fitting into the wage credits/validity of claim category
present a one-time exception to the timeliness rules. A late appeal to the
appeal tribunal on the issues, if within the same benefit year, shall be deemed
timely. However, once a decision has been issued by the appeal tribunal, the
appeal time limits in the Act, Chapter 212, shall apply.
(2) In cases dealing with the imposition of fraud and forfeiture
provisions of the Act, §214.003, there is a one-time exception at the
appeal tribunal stage, if:
(A) the claimant is out of claim status; and
(B) if the claimant has moved.
(3) In cases where there is a continuing ineligibility or condition
and there is a late appeal, the appeal tribunal or the Commission can assume
jurisdiction 14 days before the late appeal, and rule on the merits if the
facts so warrant.
(4) If a chargeback ruling is required, but is omitted, the
determination or decision does not become final for the employer; it does
become final for the claimant.
(5) In a case where it is ultimately determined that there
has been no separation from employment, all rulings are void and all rulings
can be set aside at any time.
(6) When there has been a ruling protecting an employer's account
on a separation in one benefit year, the employer is not required to timely
protest or appeal a ruling on the same separation in a subsequent year.
(7) Timeliness sanctions shall not apply when an Agency representative
or a representative of a Board or an agent state representative has given
misleading information on appeal rights to a party, if the party:
(A) specifically establishes how the party was misled; or
(B) specifically establishes what the party was told that was
misleading and, if possible, by whom the party was misled.
(8) There is no good cause exception to the timeliness rules.
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