Section 230.610  Informal Investigative Hearing

a)         At an informal investigative hearing, a party may be represented by himself or herself or by an attorney at law.  The Department may permit a party to have available witnesses, a translator and/or a representative of a union. 

b)         Parties shall be prepared to proceed at the informal investigative hearing.  A request by one party for a continuance will be granted prior to the hearing only if the other party agrees and the Department grants permission.  Otherwise, a request for a continuance shall be made in person to the Department at the time of the hearing and will be granted only upon a showing of good cause.  Good cause may be shown by, without limitation, the failure of a party to receive notice of the hearing, the inability of a party to produce a material witness or relevant evidence, the illness or death of a party or counsel, the sudden and unexpected unavailability of counsel and substitution of counsel.

c)         The Department shall conduct the informal investigative hearing and control the proceedings.  No tape recordings, stenographic report or other verbatim record of the hearing shall be made.

d)         If any person becomes so disruptive or abusive that a full and fair hearing cannot be conducted, the Department shall exclude the person from the hearing.  The Department may take any of the following actions: continue the hearing without participation of the excluded individual; render a decision based upon the evidence previously presented; dismiss the complaint; or strike the employer's response.

e)         Telephone Hearing

1)         Written requests to participate in an informal investigative hearing by telephone must be received by the Department's Chicago office no later than seven calendar days prior to the hearing date.  The request shall be in writing and state a compelling reason why the party needs to participate by telephone and the name, address and telephone number of the person to be contacted.

2)         A party shall not consider its request granted unless the party receives written notice of the Department's approval prior to the hearing date.