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VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT

OF SOCIAL SERVICES ENERGY ASSISTANCE

06/07 VOLUME IX, CHAPTER F, PAGE 4

5. DENIAL OR DISMISSAL OF HEARING REQUEST

A request for a hearing not filed within 30 days will be denied.

Every valid appeal shall be disposed of by a written decision, except in the following instances:

a. The claimant or his/her representative acting in his/her behalf may withdraw an appeal in writing.

b. The claimant may abandon an appeal. An appeal is considered abandoned if neither the claimant nor his/her representative appears at the time and place scheduled for the hearing without good cause. When the claimant or the representative fails to appear, the hearing officer will write to the claimant giving him/her an opportunity to explain why he/she did not appear. If there was a reasonable basis for the failure to appear, the hearing officer will arrange another hearing date.

c. Death of claimant in a one-member household constitutes abandonment of an appeal. Such disposition of an appeal must be entered in the case record.

6. PREPARATION FOR HEARING

The appeal request, upon receipt by the Hearing and Legal Services Manager shall be assigned to a Regional hearing officer who will validate the appeal and acknowledge the request by letter to the claimant with a copy to the claimant's representative and the LDSS.

When the request is determined valid, the appropriate LDSS shall prepare a Summary of Facts of the case to be forwarded to the hearing officer no fewer than seven days prior to the hearing. A general outline of this summary follows, although the content may vary to fit the particular case situation. All statements made should be factual and phrased in a way not objectionable to the claimant.

TRANSMITTAL #07-1