You’ve waited & waited, but you missed your unemployment hearing. Now what do you do?
Request to Reopen the Case
You must make a written request to reopen to the case. The request must be submitted within 10 calendar days of the date the Appeal Tribunal mails its decision to you. Your request must be submitted to the Appeal Tribunal by letter or fax.
Mailing address:
OESC Appeal Tribunal
PO Box 53345
Oklahoma City, OK 73152-3345
Fax number:
405-601-3337
What Does My Request Need to Say?
In your request, explain why you missed your unemployment hearing. The law & rules say that the Appeal Tribunal can reopen the case only for good cause. Good cause means circumstances outside your control.
Things that can be good cause
- You check your mail regularly, but you did not receive the Notice of Hearing before the registration deadline.
- An emergency occurred that prevented you from showing up.
- You had a job interview at the time of the hearing and did not have time to ask for the hearing to be rescheduled (aka request a continuance).
Things that are not good cause
- You forgot about the hearing.
- You misunderstood the registration instructions and/or did not register.
- Your phone was dead/broken/ringer was off/disconnected because the bill was not paid/etc.
- You were registered for the hearing but you did not answer when the hearing officer called.
- You did not receive the Notice of Hearing on time because you do not check your mail regularly.
- You did not receive the Notice of Hearing because your OESC mail goes to an address other than your home.
- You did not receive the Notice of Hearing because you moved. You did not update your address with OESC because thought your mail would be forwarded by the post office.
- You did not receive the Notice of Hearing before the registration deadline because your mail was on hold with the post office.
A New Hearing May be Scheduled
The Appeal Tribunal will review your written request and decide whether to schedule a new hearing. They will issue either an “Order for New Hearing” or an “Order Denying Reopen Request.”
If you receive an “Order for New Hearing,” the Appeal Tribunal will return your case to a hearing officer so it can be scheduled for a new hearing. A Notice of Hearing will be mailed to all parties when the case is scheduled. You MUST register in advance of the hearing by following the instructions on the Notice.
If you receive an “Order Denying Reopen Request” (or titled some other way that says “No, you don’t get a new hearing”), you can file an appeal to the Board of Review by following the instructions in the paragraph at the bottom of the decision.
What Happens at the New Hearing?
Your Notice of Hearing will show that there are two (2) issues to cover in the hearing. The first issue will be whether there is good cause to reopen the case. The second issue will be whatever the appeal was about the first time (your separation, being able and available for work, etc.).
After the introductory remarks and instructions, the hearing officer will take sworn testimony from you about why you missed your unemployment hearing. The hearing officer will ask you questions about what happened and make a decision about whether you’ve shown good cause.
Sometimes the hearing officer will not decide the good cause issue in the hearing. They may hold the decision in abeyance. That’s a legal term that essentially means “I’m not making the decision right now. I’ll think about it and make it later.” If the hearing officer does that, they will move on and take testimony from you about the other issue on the Notice of Hearing (separation, able and available for work, etc.).
About a week after the hearing, you will receive your written decision. First, It will address whether the reason you missed your appeal hearing was good cause. If the hearing officer ruled in your favor on the good cause issue, then the decision will go on to rule on the other issue from the hearing.
If the hearing officer rules against you on the reopen issue, then you can file an appeal to the Board of Review following the instructions in the last paragraph of your decision.
Additional Information
Before to your first hearing, you should have received a packet of documents from the Appeal Tribunal with a cover page that says “Notice of Appeal.” There’s a link and a QR code to the “Information for Appeal Hearings and Decisions” booklet. If you did not receive it, or you’ve misplaced it, you can access the booklet here. As of January 30, 2024, page 3 of the document contains links to versions of the information in Spanish and Vietnamese.
Find the section called “Failure to Attend the Hearing.” It explains the procedures for making a request to reopen a hearing.
Scheduling Conflicts
Sometimes you’ll know in advance you will not be able to attend the hearing. If so, you can submit a request to reschedule the case (called a continuance request). You can find iInstructions for making that request in the “Information for Appeal Hearings and Decisions” booklet. Find the section called “Postponements.”
Your Next Steps
If you missed your hearing and have questions about requesting to reopen the case, please let us know. Use this link to schedule a meeting with us to go over your case.
