CLAIMS HANDBOOK - Department of Human Services

BENEFIT RECOVERY (CLAIMS) HANDBOOK
FAIR HEARINGS AND CLAIMS
Prior to any collection activity on a debt, the AU must be notified via a system generated or
manual notice that a debt exists and of their right to a Fair Hearing.
The TANF AU has 30 days and the FS AU has 90 days from the date of the notice in which
to request a hearing on the “fact of the claim” or “amount of the debt” ONLY. Suspend the
claim immediately if the “fact of” or “amount” is in question. Consider Compromise if
appropriate.
If the AU requests a hearing related to Federal Benefit or State Tax intercepts, refer them to
the Claims / Collections Unit. See appendix for additional information.
If the AU requests a hearing due to benefit reduction or recoupment, the county office
processes the request and DOES NOT suspend the claim.
Notify OPIC of any hearing requests involving a fraud type claim. The OPIC agent is to be
present when OSAH conducts the hearing.
Include fair hearings associated with claims on the Monthly Fair Hearings Log. When agency
action is upheld in a fair hearing, reestablish the claim manually to assign a new
establishment date and generate a new notice to the customer. Terminate the original claim
after any payments posted to that claim are moved to the new claim (Refer to pg 33 –
Payments moved from one sequence to another).
Rev December ‘10 48