This transmittal clarifies and standardizes the process for redacting fair hearing decisions distributed to persons other than appellants and/or their authorized representatives.This amended transmittal takes into consideration the outcome of litigation which addressed the identification of the agency as set forth in Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York v. NYS Department of Social Services, 195 A.D.2d 150, 605 N.Y.S.2d 785 (3d Dept. 1993).
The following standards will be applied when redacting decisions in response to requests for decisions after hearing from third-party sources.
When redacting third-party requests for decisions, the following items, and only these items, are to be fully redacted from the decision:
• Case number
• Appellant's name
• Hearing location
• Appellant's representative's name
• Appellant's witness' name
• Other unique identifiers such as bank and insurance company names/account numbers; and any other information that could identify the appellant or other household member, for example, a name, address, date of birth, telephone number, or other financial account information, usually found in the Fact Findings and Discussion, and Decision and Order.
The request date, fair hearing number, hearing date, center number, local social services district's name, hearing officer's name, agency's representative's name, agency's witness' name, and decision date must not be redacted.
Fair hearing decisions without redaction should continued to be provided upon request to appellants, their representatives and the agencies.
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