Hearing officers, board members, and legal counsel to the department in the discharge of their official duties, and all persons participating in the hearings process covered by this chapter shall observe and be governed by the following ethical standards of conduct:

1. (a) Hearing officers and board members shall avoid the appearance of impropriety in all activities. They shall conduct themselves in a manner which promotes public confidence in their integrity and impartiality and of the hearings process of the department in general;

2. (b) Hearing officers, board members, and legal counsel to the department shall:

   1. (1) Perform their duties impartially and diligently;
   2. (2) Know the applicable laws and rules;
   3. (3) Maintain order and decorum in proceedings before them;
   4. (4) Be patient and courteous to those persons who participate in the hearings process; and
   5. (5) Dispose promptly of matters heard by them;
3. (c) Hearing officers and board members shall disqualify themselves when their impartiality might be reasonably questioned. They shall not participate in a contested case where they have a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a party’s representative, personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding, or where they or a relative is a party to the proceeding or is known by them to have a substantial interest in the outcome of the proceeding;
4. (d) Hearing officers and board members shall avoid ex parte communications as defined by Lab 202.04. They shall not permit private communications concerning a pending matter unless such communications are at the same time provided to all other persons interested in the matter;
5. (e) Hearing officers and board members shall not directly or indirectly solicit or accept any gift or gratuity of any value from any person or party involved in any contested matter pending before them. Gifts or gratuities include but shall not be limited to meals, alcoholic beverages, hotel accommodations, travel expenses, flowers, and the like, but shall not include mementos of token value received for speaking engagements or meals received at functions in which the department has a specific part in the program. Gifts or gratuities received unsolicited shall be returned to the donor as quickly as possible but not later than 7 days following receipt. Written notification of receipt of gifts or gratuities shall be reported to the commissioner no later than 5 days following receipt;
6. (f) A person who has been employed by the department as a hearing officer shall not thereafter appear before the department on behalf of any party in a matter where the hearing officer was involved while an employee of the department. A hearing officer shall not appear in any contested case before the department on behalf of any party until the expiration of one year following termination of employment with the department;
7. (g) No member of the board shall participate directly or indirectly as a representative to a proceeding before a hearing officer at the department of labor; and
8. (h) A hearing officer, board member, member of the department, or any other participant in the hearing process who observes or otherwise becomes aware of a violation of these ethical standards by a hearing officer or by any other participant in the hearing process shall report such violation, in writing, to the commissioner.

Source. #8922-A, eff 7-1-07; ss by #14534, eff 3-12-26 (formerly Lab 208.01)