(a) The presentation of an appeal to the Commission.
  (1) A party of interest may appeal a decision of the Appeal Tribunal. A party appealing from a decision of an appeal tribunal shall file the appeal by hand delivery, mail, common carrier, facsimile (fax) transmission, or other method approved by the Agency in writing. A written appeal that is sent to the Agency should be addressed to the Texas Workforce Commission, 101 East 15th Street, Austin, Texas, 78778-0001, or faxed to the number provided in the decision. A written appeal may be hand delivered to the Texas Workforce Commission, 101 East 15th Street, Austin, Texas 78778-0001, a local office of the Agency, or an agent state, or a workforce center or an office of a Board. The appeal should identify the decision of the appeal tribunal being appealed, the basis for the appeal, the name of the party appealing, and the date of the appeal. The provisions of §815.32 of this chapter (relating to Timeliness) shall determine on what date the appeal was filed.
  (2) When an appeal to the Commission is filed, all evidence and records pertaining to the appeal shall be submitted to the Commission for its review.
(b) Commission action may include one or more actions as described in this subsection.
  (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.
  (2) The Commission may grant a further hearing on the matter and notify the parties to appear before the Commission, or before a representative of the Agency designated to hold hearings for the Commission, at a specified time and place for the purpose of presenting additional evidence and arguments; or the Commission may direct an appeal tribunal to take additional evidence necessary for the proper disposition of the appeal. All hearings conducted by the Commission, or before a representative of the Agency designated to hold hearings for the Commission, shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by §815.16 of this chapter (relating to Appeals to Appeal Tribunals from Determinations). Upon completion of the taking of additional evidence, the complete record involved in the appeal shall be returned to the Commission for its decision.
  (3) The Commission may remand a case to the appeal tribunal for the appeal tribunal to hold a de novo hearing. The appeal tribunal shall set aside the prior appeal tribunal decision and issue a new decision. The new decision shall be subject to all the provisions relating to appeals contained in the Act, in this section, in §815.15 of this chapter (relating to Parties with Appeal Rights), in §815.16 of this chapter (relating to Appeals to Appeal Tribunals from Determinations), and in §815.18 of this chapter (relating to General Rules for Both Appeal Stages), just as any other appeal tribunal decision.
(c) Assumption of jurisdiction on the Commission's 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 of interest, the Commission may on its own motion acquire jurisdiction of the appeal and act as though a party of interest had filed an appeal.
(d) Cases removed from an appeal tribunal. The Commission may remove to itself any appeal pending before an appeal tribunal. In that event, the Commission may proceed to decide the case on the evidence previously submitted, may schedule a hearing conducted by the Commission or its designee, or may direct the appeal tribunal to take any additional evidence the Commission deems necessary.
(e) The determination of appeals.
  (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) 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 the decision.
  (3) A copy of the Commission's decision shall be mailed to the parties.
(f) Motions for rehearing.
  (1) A motion for rehearing may be filed by hand delivery, mail, common carrier, facsimile (fax) transmission, or other method approved by the Agency in writing. A motion for rehearing that is sent to the Agency should be addressed to the Texas Workforce Commission, 101 East 15th Street, Austin, Texas, 78778-0001, or faxed to the number provided in the decision. A written motion may be hand delivered to the Texas Workforce Commission, 101 East 15th Street, Austin, Texas 78778-0001, a local office of the Agency, or an agency state, or a workforce center or an office of a Board. The provisions of §815.32 of this chapter (related to Timeliness) shall determine on what date the motion was filed.
  (2) A motion for rehearing shall not be granted unless each of the following three criteria is met:
    (A) there is an offering of new evidence, which was not presented at the appeal tribunal level;
    (B) there is a compelling reason why the evidence was not presented earlier; and
    (C) there is a specific explanation of how consideration of the evidence would change the outcome of the case.
  (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) of this subsection, a rehearing may be granted in the following two situations.
    (A) When a party of interest did not appear before the appeal tribunal, nevertheless won at that level, and then received an adverse ruling at the Commission level, the Commission may grant a rehearing to consider whether there was good cause for the nonappearance. If good cause is found, the rehearing shall address the merits of the case.
    (B) When a solely jurisdictional or procedural problem is not detected or recognized until after the Commission decision has been issued, the Commission may take appropriate action to correct the problem at the motion for rehearing level.
  (4) The Commission shall deny a request for rehearing 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 November 6, 2000, 25 TexReg 11093