TWC Appeals Department

Commission Rule 32, 40 TAC 815.32, states:

(a) Appeal time frames generally are:

(1) established in the Texas Unemployment Compensation Act.

(2) extended one working day following a deadline which falls on a weekend or official state holiday.

(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) there is tangible evidence of nondelivery, such as the document being returned to the Commission by the U.S.P.S., or

(2) credible and persuasive evidence is submitted to the Commission to establish nondelivery, delayed delivery, or misdelivery of the document.

(c) Address for proper mailing:

(1) For a claimant, the proper address is the address given by the claimant to the TWC subject to later changes given by the claimant to the TWC.

(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) For governmental employers the group account address must be used, if applicable.

(4) Mailing of notice to a party representative, whether or not an attorney, is required to bind parties to timeliness rules.

(5) If a party inadvertently provides TWC with his own incorrect mailing address, a TWC mailing to that address will be a proper mailing.

(6) TWC 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 blockquoteected by the party.

(7) If the TWC 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) 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.

(d) Date appeal perfected for in-person appeals:

(1) The date on a signed and countersigned appeal form (either A-4 or interstate) is the appeal date.

(2) Receipt date is date of receipt at the earliest TWC or agent state location.

(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 3 business days earlier than receipt in Appeals (or Interstate).

(e) Date appeal perfected for mailed documents:

(1) The appeal date for a document received via U.S.P.S. 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 No. 87-18325-10-101987 under PR 430.20.)

(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 U.S.P.S; date of delivery to carrier is equivalent to postmark date.)

(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 TWC, or on the date of the document, if less than three days earlier than date of receipt.

(4) If the mailing envelope is lost after delivery to TWC, appeal document date will control. If the document is undated, appeal date will be three business days before receipt by TWC, subject to sworn testimony establishing an even earlier date.

(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 Texas Employment 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.

(g) Credible and persuasive testimony subject to cross-examination establishing timeliness allows the Commission or the Appeal Tribunal to rule on the merits.

(h) If a party submits an address change to TWC during the appeal period (but after TWC document was mailed to the old address) address change date will control and will be considered as date appeal was perfected.