48-633 Appeal tribunals; qualifications; powers; duties. - Nebraska Statutes

48-633. Appeal tribunals; qualifications; powers; duties.(1) To hear and decide disputed claims, the commissioner shall appoint one or more impartial appeal tribunals consisting in each case of an administrative law judge, who shall be an attorney selected in accordance with section 48-609.(2) Whenever the commissioner finds that the hearing of an appeal will be unreasonably delayed by the unavailability of an administrative law judge appointed in accordance with subsection (1) of this section, he or she may appoint a special administrative law judge to conduct the hearing. Such special administrative law judge may be appointed without regard to the qualifications set forth in subsection (1) of this section and shall have all the powers and perform all the duties of an administrative law judge appointed in accordance with subsection (1) of this section.(3) Recognizing that a clear separation of functions and the protection of fair and impartial hearings are fundamental to the integrity of the adjudicative process, administrative oversight of the appeal tribunal and its administrative law judges shall be the responsibility of the commissioner. The commissioner shall provide the appeal tribunals with proper facilities and assistants for the execution of their functions. Notwithstanding any delegation of administrative oversight, the commissioner shall maintain the appeal tribunal and its staff as an identifiable unit within the division or office to which it is assigned, under the supervision of a chief administrative law judge. In determining eligibility of a claimant for unemployment benefits, an appeal tribunal shall not be bound by department policy or interpretations that are not part of a duly adopted regulation or that have not been approved by a court of competent jurisdiction. No administrative law judge shall be subject to discipline, poor evaluation, or loss of pay or pay increase for failure to follow a department policy or interpretation on unemployment benefit eligibility that has not been adopted as a regulation or approved by a court of competent jurisdiction. An attorney employed by the commissioner shall not appear before an appeal tribunal in any appeal hearing presided over by an administrative law judge for whom he or she is the immediate supervisor. SourceLaws 1937, c. 108, § 6, p. 380; Laws 1941, c. 94, § 4, p. 386; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 48-706; R.S.1943, § 48-633; Laws 1947, c. 175, § 7, p. 576; Laws 1955, c. 190, § 8, p. 547; Laws 1967, c. 298, § 2, p. 813; Laws 1982, LB 410, § 1; Laws 2001, LB 192, § 9.