In 1999 the Oregon Legislature created the Office of Administrative Hearings (then the Hearing Officer Panel) within the Employment Department. Our role is to provide an independent and impartial forum for citizens and businesses to dispute state agency action against them. Previously, employees of the agencies themselves heard these cases.
With 65 professional administrative law judges, we hold over 30,000 hearings a year for approximately 70 state agencies. By statute, all administrative law judges are required to be "impartial in the performance of [their] duties and shall remain fair in all hearings." We are committed to doing that. We are equally committed to producing timely decisions of the highest quality.Oregon is now the 22nd state in the nation with an independent central panel of administrative law judges.
For more information on the Office of Administrative Hearings please click the link below:
Independence in Adjudication