1. (a) The presentation of an appeal to the commission.

   1. (1) A party appealing from a decision of an appeal tribunal shall either write directly to the commission giving notice of such appeal or sign and file with the commission at its office in Austin, or at a local office or itinerant service point of the commission, a written notice of the appeal, setting forth the basis for the appeal. Such notice of appeal shall identify the decision of the appeal tribunal from which appeal is taken and shall state the date on which it is filed.
   2. (2) When an appeal to the commission is filed, all evidence and all records pertaining to the appeal shall be submitted to the commission for its review.

2. (b) Commission action:

   1. (1) the commission may, without further hearing, affirm, reverse, or modify any decision of an appeal tribunal on the basis of the record made before the appeal tribunal; or
   2. (2) the commission may grant a further hearing on the matter and notify the parties to appear before it at a specified time and place for the purpose of hearing additional evidence and argument; or
   3. (3) the commission may direct an appeal tribunal to take additional evidence necessary for the proper disposition of the appeal. Such evidence shall be taken by the appeal tribunal in the manner prescribed for the conduct of hearings on appeals before an appeal tribunal. Upon completion of the taking of such additional evidence, the complete record involved in the appeal shall be returned to the commission for its decision;
   4. (4) the commission may remand a case to the appeal tribunal for the appeal tribunal to hold a de novo hearing. When this is done, the appeal tribunal will set aside the prior appeal tribunal decision and issue a new decision. The new decision will be subject to all the provisions relating to appeals contained in the Act, in this section, and in §815.16 of this title (relating to Appeals to Appeal Tribunals from Determinations on Entitlement to Benefits) and §815.18 of this title (relating to General Rules for Both Appeal Stages), just as any other appeal tribunal decision.
3. (c) Appeals to the commission on its own motion. Within 14 days following the mailing of a decision of an appeal tribunal, and in the absence of the filing of an appeal to the commission by a party, the commission may on its own motion acquire jurisdiction of the appeal and act thereon as though a party had filed an appeal.
4. (d) Cases removed from an appeal tribunal. The commission may remove to itself any appeal pending before an appeal tribunal. In such event, the commission may proceed to decide the case on the evidence previously submitted, may schedule a commission hearing, or may direct the appeal tribunal to take such additional evidence as it deems necessary.
5. (e) Hearing of appeals. All commission hearings shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by §815.16 of this title (relating to Appeals to Appeal Tribunals from Determinations on Entitlement to Benefits) for hearings before appeal tribunals.

6. (f) The determination of appeals.

   1. (1) The commission shall render its decision with respect to an appeal as soon as possible after reviewing the case. The decision shall be in writing and shall reflect the names of the members of the commission who participated in the review.
   2. (2) If a decision of the commission is not unanimous, the decision of the majority shall control, but the minority member may file a dissent from such decision.
   3. (3) A copy of the commission's decision shall be mailed to the parties.

7. (g) Motions for rehearing.

   1. (1) A motion for rehearing may be filed by writing directly to the Texas Workforce Commission in Austin, or such motion may be filed in person at any local commission office.

   2. (2) A motion for rehearing will not be granted unless each of the following three criteria are met.

      1. (A) There must be an offering of new evidence which was unavailable at the appeal tribunal level.
      2. (B) There must be a compelling reason why the evidence was not present earlier.
      3. (C) There must be a specific explanation of how consideration of the evidence would change the outcome of the case.

   3. (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) of this subsection, a rehearing may be granted in the following two situations.

      1. (A) When a party did not appear before the appeal tribunal, nevertheless won at that level, and then received an adverse ruling at the commission level, a rehearing will be granted to consider whether there was good cause for the nonappearance. If such good cause is found, the rehearing will address the merits of the case.
      2. (B) When a solely jurisdictional or procedural problem is not detected or recognized until after a commission decision has been issued, the commission may take appropriate action to correct the problem at the motion for rehearing level.
   4. (4) A request for rehearing will be denied unless it can be shown there are substantial reasons for the commission to grant the rehearing.

Source Note:The provisions of this §815.17 adopted to be effective July 27, 1982, 7 TexReg 2630; amended to be effective December 31, 1984, 9 TexReg 6373; amended to be effective January 7, 1988, 12 TexReg 4917; amended to be effective August 24, 1988, 13 TexReg 3994; amended to be effective February 11, 1991, 16 TexReg 473; transferred effective June 1, 1996, as published in the Texas Register June 18, 1996, 21 TexReg 5606; amended to be effective October 6, 1998, 23 TexReg 10049.