How to Prepare for a Telephone Hearing

Evidence you may want to use includes: 

• Doctors’ letters and statements
• Bills
• Receipts
• Court papers
• Rent receipts or lease
• Welfare papers 
• Your testimony– if you are missing certain documents, then your testimony will also serve as evidence.

If you are having trouble getting evidence in time for a hearing, explain that to the Judge. If you believe you only need a short period of time to get the evidence, ask the Judge if they can “hold the record open” to give you time to submit the evidence. For example, you could say, “My doctor’s office says that they just mailed me the medical statement I need to show that I was too sick to go to work that day. Could you hold the record open for one week so that I can provide you with this evidence?”

Please review the Checklist of Evidence for examples of what evidence may be useful for specific circumstances.

Your evidence should be delivered to the OTDA at least two business days before the hearing. Failure to submit evidence two business days in advance of the hearing may result in the evidence not being considered by the Judge.

You can submit your evidence 1) online, 2) by email, 3) by fax, or 4) U.S. mail. If none of these methods for submitting evidence work for you, then you should contact the OTDA at (518) 486-6423 to identify a different method of evidence submission. Whichever method you choose to use, make sure that you submit your evidence at least two (2) business days prior to the Fair Hearing date. Failure to submit evidence in advance of the hearing may result in such evidence not being considered by the Judge.

1. Online. In order to submit evidence online, please go to: upload.ny.gov. Fair hearing requests cannot be accepted through this link. You can only use online submission if you have a fair hearing number.
2. Email. OTDA recently changed the email address that appellants should send evidence to. The new email is intakemail.hearings@otda.ny.gov. You may still use UpLoad.NY.gov to submit evidence securely. 
3. Fax. In order to submit evidence via fax, please fax the evidence submission to 518-473-6735. Please include a cover sheet that states your assigned fair hearing number.
4. US Mail. If you submit evidence via US Mail, please send it to the following address: Office of Administrative Hearings, 40 N. Pearl St, Fl 15B, Albany NY 12243, or PO Box 1930 Albany NY 12201.
   • In the envelope, include a cover sheet that states your assigned fair hearing number.
   • If you choose to submit evidence via US Mail, please be advised to take delivery time into account to ensure evidence is delivered timely. You want to submit evidence at least two (2) business days prior to the Fair Hearing date. Therefore, we recommend you mail the evidence at least 5-7 business days before the Fair Hearing date 

Remember: All of your evidence should be in a packet with page numbers on the top. Make sure the page numbers are accurate and that there are no repeating page numbers. You should try to submit all of your evidence at once to avoid confusion.

If you are submitting digitally, typically the evidence should be in the form of a pdf. However, you can also submit evidence in nontraditional formats, such as .wav, .jpg, .mp3, or .mp4 files. If you do this, you should take extra care to submit it in an organized format and to explain the evidence thoroughly during your hearing. 

The OTDA will not share evidence with the Agency prior to the hearing unless they are expressly authorized to do so.

If you have a good reason that you could not submit the evidence in advance explain that to the judge and ask for the record to be held open to give you time to submit it. If you do not have written evidence to submit, remember that your testimony is evidence! If you are not able to submit any documents to support your case, make sure you can speak about everything clearly. For example, if you do not have a lease, you can still tell the Judge how much you pay for rent. If you realize at the hearing that you do have something helpful that you have not yet submitted, you may ask the Judge if you can submit evidence after the hearing.

You are entitled to free copies of any documents that the agency plans to use at the hearing (called an evidence packet). You should request your evidence packet from the Agency by either calling the number on your notice (if you request the packet by phone, ask for the name of the person you are speaking to) or writing to the agency as soon as possible before your hearing requesting the evidence packet (save a copy of your letter). This usually includes case notes, any records the agency has pertaining to you, and records of agency efforts to contact you.

It is your right to receive evidence packets at least one business day in advance of the hearing. It is advisable that you make this request at a reasonable time before the hearing. Typically, this means you should make the request at least five days before the hearing.

Sometimes, you may receive this evidence packet in the mail without even requesting it.

Information on how to request evidence should be on the notice of the decision you received. If it is not, try to reach out to the agency using any contact information made available on the notice of decision.

Remember: You should hold onto proof that you made a request for evidence. If the Agency does not give you the evidence, you should present proof of your request to the judge. Tell the judge the day you called the agency and who you spoke to or give the ALJ a copy of your letter requesting the evidence packet. It is your right to receive the agency’s evidence!

Please be advised that the other party’s evidence may be hundreds of pages and it may be difficult to understand what documents are important. Do your best to make note of any questions you may have for the agency about their evidence.

If you are unsure which agency to contact, please use the Directory to identify your social services district.

In your request for evidence, you should include:

• Your name
• The Fair Hearing Number
• The Case number
• Your address and contact information

You may want to look over this evidence and prepare questions for the agency if you are confused about anything or believe something is false.

If you have a Notice of Action or Notice of Decision, your arguments should respond to the notice. For example, if the notice tells you your case is closing because you are over the income limit, you should respond by telling the hearing office your income. Be prepared to give information about your household size, everyone’s income, rent, and utilities. While your testimony is evidence, it will help if you also provide documents to confirm any statements you make.

1. Turn on your phone’s ringer so you will be alerted when you receive the call.
   • Instructions for doing so on an iPhone can be found here.
   • Instructions for doing so on an Android can be found here.
   • If you have another kind of cell phone, please look up the model of your phone for instructions on ensuring that your ringer is on.
2. Make sure your phone is able to accept blocked calls.
   • If you have an iPhone, go to your Settings App. Then look click on “Phone.” Then, click on “Silence Unknown Callers” and make sure that it is switched “off.”
   • If you have an Android, instructions for making sure your phone can accept blocked calls can be found here.
   • If you have another kind of cell phone, please look up the model of your phone for instructions on ensuring that you will receive a blocked call.
   • If you are expecting to receive the call on a landline (home) phone, then you should be able to receive the phone call without any issues. However, you should check if the landline has any settings concerning blocked calls.
3. Advise your witnesses or advocates, if you have any, about how to make sure their phone can accept blocked calls, and provide them the above instructions.
4. Make sure your sound works on a phone call.
   • To do this, you should have a preparatory phone call with a friend and ask them if they can hear you when you are talking. You should also make sure that you are able to hear your friend.
5. Make sure your phone is adequately charged if you will be using a cell phone.
6. Make sure you have a voicemail box set up and that your voicemail box is not full.
   • Instructions for doing this on an iPhone can be found here.
   • Instructions for doing this on an Android can be found here.

You can send any address, email, and telephone contact updates to the OTDA via phone, secure upload, email, fax, and mail. The instructions for providing contact information updates can be found in the previous question: “How do I submit evidence?”

However, the OTDA might not be able to guarantee that it will see and use your new contact information if you provide it on the same day of your hearing. Please submit updates prior to the hearing date. Failure to do so may result in the abandonment of the hearing request.

Remember: If you use email, fax or mail, please include the fair hearing number in the subject line on emails and fax or mail coversheets.

The OTDA will confirm your contact information with you when reviewing your request for a fair hearing. That information will be provided to the Judge. Make sure that the information is accurate and include the phone number of any representatives or witnesses you would like included in the call.