Only the General Counsel may enter into settlement agreements with representatives
to resolve sanction cases. The General Counsel may settle a case even before filing
charges against a representative.
The parties may agree to any terms that are not in violation of Federal law or regulation.
If the parties sign a settlement agreement before the General Counsel asks OHO to
designate a hearing officer, the agreement becomes effective according to the terms
of the agreement. If the parties sign the settlement agreement after OHO designates
a hearing officer, the agreement becomes effective when the designated hearing officer
enters the agreement into the record, issues an order accepting the agreement, and
dismisses the General Counsel's request for a hearing.
Field Office (FO) or Processing Center (PC) staff cannot negotiate any type of settlement
with a representative regarding a sanctions matter. However, in situations regarding
possible fee violations, the FO or the PC staff can close a case if the representative
makes a full refund of the disputed amount upon request before the FO or PC refers
the case to OGC. FO and PC staff must not inform the representative that the matter
is closed if they will refer the representative to OGC because of the conduct that
led to the direct payment error.
Example: If a representative collected money from a claimant without authorization in the
amount of $3,000 and later returns the $3,000 pursuant to the FO’s request, the FO
may close the case in their systems but make a referral to OGC. In this circumstance,
FO staff must not inform the representative that the matter is closed because OGC
may open a matter to investigate the representative’s conduct regarding the initial
collection of the unauthorized fee.
Refer questions regarding this section to OGC using the contact information in GN 03970.070.