In this letter, General Counsel John P. Bailly, Jr. discusses OTDA's revised policy on the redaction of identifying information from Fair Hearing Decisions that are made available to the public.
The following information will be fully redacted:
• Case number;
• Appellant's name;
• Appellant's representative's name;
• Appellant's witness' name;
• Hearing location;
• 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).
Mr. Bailly noted that
Although appellant information, including names, will be redacted to preserve the confidentiality of public assistance records, given that the fair hearing number will not be redacted, courts will continue to be able to cite fair hearing decisions as precedent. In addition, fair hearing decisions will continue to be identifiable and usable by appellants, hearing officers and other interested third parties. Moreover, we are developing an Internet database of fair hearing decisions, with appropriate redactions, that will be available to the public.
Lastly, OTDA will continue to disclose unredacted fair hearing decisions to attorney(s) representatives and to other client representatives, upon receipt of proper authorization from the client to release public assistance information to their representative.
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