The
Office of Hearings and Appeals is the quasi-judicial arm of the Department of
Energy that conducts hearings and issues initial Departmental decisions with
respect to a wide range of legal issues and programs delegated to the Office by
the Secretary of Energy.
The
Office is primarily responsible for conducting hearings and issuing decisions
involving personnel security clearance cases, and contractor employee
whistleblower cases. The Office has jurisdiction for deciding Freedom of
Information and Privacy Act appeals, as well as other appeals involving
administrative determinations reached by Department officials under the
jurisdiction of the Secretary.
HG
also provides an adjudicatory forum in matters involving contested issues of
fact or law. In addition, HG is responsible for deciding Applications for
Exception from generally applicable requirements of a rule, regulation or order
of the Department of Energy, and for hearing Petitions for Special Redress
seeking "extraordinary relief" -- apart from or in addition to -- any
other remedy provided in the Department’s enabling statutes.