5.6.4 Board of Review

After an ALJ decision, claimants have two options: timely request reopening/new hearing or timely appeal to the Board of Review (BOR), a group of political appointees who may not even be lawyers.

Aggrieved employers can also appeal and sometimes send new evidence to supplement their case presented at hearing. Typically, they fail to copy the claimant, and the agency will not give your client a copy of the employer’s appeal or any new evidence turned in by the employer, unless you ask for it. In that situation, object that this violates the law and due process. If the BOR wants to consider new evidence, it is required to have a good reason for reopening (i.e., not just to give the employer a second chance to present a better case) and to have a new hearing for all parties to address this evidence. The BOR decision becomes the final agency decision, which may be appealed to state district court.