1. (a) Appeal time frames generally are:

   1. (1) established in the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act;
   2. (2) extended one working day following a deadline which falls on a weekend or official state holiday.

2. (b) Presumption of receipt. A document mailed to a party is presumed to be received if the document was mailed to the complete, correct address of record unless:

   1. (1) there is tangible evidence of nondelivery, such as the document being returned to the commission by the United States Postal Service; or
   2. (2) credible and persuasive evidence is submitted to the commission to establish nondelivery, delayed delivery, or misdelivery of the document.

3. (c) Address for proper mailing.

   1. (1) For a claimant, the proper address is the address given by the claimant to the commission subject to later changes given by the claimant to the commission.
   2. (2) For an employer, the proper address is the address of the physical location where the claimant last worked, or the official tax address on record with the commission; or a mailing address change specifically requested in a protest, appeal, or other correspondence, or at a hearing.
   3. (3) For governmental employers, the group account address must be used, if applicable.
   4. (4) Mailing of notice to a party representative, whether or not an attorney, is required to bind parties to timeliness rules.
   5. (5) If a party inadvertently provides the commission with his own incorrect mailing address, a commission mailing to that address will be a proper mailing.
   6. (6) The commission is not responsible for effectuating an address change when it is listed in correspondence or merely listed by a party on an appeal filed in person, unless specifically directed by the party.
   7. (7) If the commission improperly addresses a document, time frame for filing an appeal will begin to run as of the actual date of receipt by the party.
   8. (8) Addresses will be positively verified by hearing officers, who will also explain to parties the importance of such address being correct and the fact that subsequent appeal deadlines run from the date of mailing, not the date of receipt by the party.

4. (d) Date appeal perfected for in-person appeals.

   1. (1) The date on a signed and countersigned appeal form (either A-4 or interstate) is the appeal date.
   2. (2) Receipt date is date of receipt at the earliest commission or agent state location.
   3. (3) If an appeal is received at a local (or agent state) office, but not dated then but only upon later receipt by appeals (or interstate) processing unit, appeal date will be set at three business days earlier than receipt in appeals (or interstate).

5. (e) Date appeal perfected for mailed documents.

   1. (1) The appeal date for a document received via United States Postal Service will be the postmark date or the postal meter date (where there is only one or the other); but where there is both a postmark date and a postal meter date and they conflict, the postmark date controls. (See Appeal Number 87-18325-10-101987 under PR 430.20.)
   2. (2) The date a document is delivered to a common carrier (such as Federal Express, Purolator, etc.) controls as the date the appeal is perfected. (Delivery to carrier is equivalent to delivery to United States Postal Service; date of delivery to carrier is equivalent to postmark date.)
   3. (3) An appeal received in an envelope bearing no legible postmark or postal meter date will be considered to be perfected three business days before receipt by the commission, or on the date of the document, if less than three days earlier than date of receipt.
   4. (4) If the mailing envelope is lost after delivery to the commission, appeal document date will control. If the document is undated, appeal date will be three business days before receipt by the commission, subject to sworn testimony establishing an even earlier date.
6. (f) Sworn testimony can establish a date for an appeal being perfected which is earlier than the postmark date. Only in the face of extremely credible evidence will a party be allowed to establish an appeal date earlier than a postal meter date or the date of the document itself. When a party alleges filing an appeal by the mailing of a document which the commission has never received, the party must present credible and persuasive testimony of timely filing corroborated by testimony of a disinterested party and/or physical evidence specifically linked to the appeal in question.
7. (g) Credible and persuasive testimony subject to cross-examination establishing timeliness allows the commission or the appeal tribunal to rule on the merits.
8. (h) If a party submits an address change to the commission during the appeal period (but after the commission document was mailed to the old address), address change date will control and will be considered as date appeal was perfected.

9. (i) The substantive nature of certain cases causes, or creates, exceptions to the general timeliness rules, even where notice is proper or response is clearly late.

   1. (1) Cases fitting into the wage credits/rights to benefits category present a one-time exception to the timeliness rules. A late appeal to the appeal tribunal on such issues, if within the same benefit year, will be deemed timely. However, once a decision has been issued by the appeal tribunal, the appeal time limits in the Act, Chapter 212, will apply.

   2. (2) In cases dealing with the imposition of fraud and forfeiture provisions of §214.003, there is a one-time exception at the appeal tribunal stage, if:

      1. (A) claimant is out of claim status; and
      2. (B) if claimant has moved.
   3. (3) In cases where there is a continuing ineligibility or condition and there is a late appeal, the appeal tribunal or the commission can assume jurisdiction 14 days before the late appeal, and rule on the merits if the facts so warrant.
   4. (4) If a chargeback ruling is required, but is omitted, the determination or decision can never become final for the employer; it does become final for the claimant.
   5. (5) In a case where it is ultimately determined that there has been no separation from employment, all rulings are void and all rulings can be set aside at any time.
   6. (6) When there has been a ruling protecting an employer's account on a separation in one benefit year, the employer is not required to timely protest or appeal a ruling on the same separation in a subsequent year.

   7. (7) Timeliness sanctions will not apply when there has been misleading information on appeal rights from the commission or an agent state given to a party, if the party:

      1. (A) specifically establishes how he was misled; or
      2. (B) specifically establishes what he was told that was misleading, including, if possible, by whom the party was misled.
   8. (8) There is no good cause exception to the timeliness rules.

Source Note:The provisions of this §815.32 adopted to be effective August 11, 1989, 14 TexReg 3703; amended to be effective October 9, 1989, 14 TexReg 5075; 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.