(a) Notice of opportunity for hearing. As part of a Final
Determination, or a Notification of Breach of a Conciliation Agreement,
the Director must include, and serve on the grant applicant or
recipient (by certified mail, return receipt requested), a notice of
opportunity for hearing.
(b) Complaint; request for hearing; answer. (1) In the case of
noncompliance that cannot be voluntarily resolved, the Final
Determination or Notification of Breach of Conciliation Agreement is
considered the Department's formal complaint.
(2) To request a hearing, the grant applicant or recipient must
file a written answer to the Final Determination or Notification of
Breach of Conciliation Agreement, and a copy of the Final Determination
or Notification of Breach of Conciliation Agreement, with the Office of
the Administrative Law Judges, 800 K Street N.W., Suite 400,
Washington, DC 20001.
(i) The answer must be filed within 30 days of the date of receipt
of the Final Determination or Notification of Breach of Conciliation
Agreement.
(ii) A request for hearing must be set forth in a separate
paragraph of the answer.
(iii) The answer must specifically admit or deny each finding of
fact in the Final Determination or Notification of Breach of
Conciliation Agreement. Where the grant applicant or recipient does not
have knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief, the answer
may so state and the statement will have the effect of a denial.
Findings of fact not denied are considered admitted. The answer must
separately state and identify matters alleged as affirmative defenses,
and must also set forth the matters of fact and law relied on by the
grant applicant or recipient.
(3) The grant applicant or recipient must simultaneously serve a
copy of its filing on the Office of the Solicitor, Civil Rights
Division, Room N-2464, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Avenue N.W., Washington DC 20210.
(4) (i) The failure of a grant applicant or recipient to request a
hearing under this paragraph, or to appear at a hearing for which a
date has been set, waives the right to a hearing; and
(ii) Whenever a hearing is waived, all allegations of fact
contained in the Final Determination or Notification of Breach of
Conciliation Agreement are
considered admitted, and the Final Determination or Notification of
Breach of Conciliation Agreement becomes the Final Decision of the
Secretary as of the day following the last date by which the grant
applicant or recipient was required to request a hearing or was to
appear at a hearing. See Sec. 37.112(b)(3).
(c) Time and place of hearing. Hearings will be held at a time and
place ordered by the Administrative Law Judge upon reasonable notice to
all parties and, as appropriate, the complainant. In selecting a place
for the hearing, due regard must be given to the convenience of the
parties, their counsel, and witnesses, if any.
(d) Judicial process; evidence. (1) The Administrative Law Judge
may use judicial process to secure the attendance of witnesses and the
production of documents authorized by Section 9 of the Federal Trade
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 49).
(2) Evidence. In any hearing or administrative review conducted
under this part, evidentiary matters will be governed by the standards
and principles set forth in the Uniform Rules of Evidence issued by the
Department of Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges, 29 CFR part
18.
