Section 3 Role of the Hearing Officer

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

The hearing officer must ensure that facts are sufficiently developed to make a decision on the issues. Haggard v. Div. of Employment Sec.,
238 S.W.3d 151, 157 (Mo. banc 2007). A hearing officer may interrupt witnesses when necessary to clarify testimony or understand an exhibit. At the same time, the hearing officer must be impartial and must be careful not to attempt to establish proof to support the position of any party to the controversy. See Scheble v. Mo. Clean Water Comm’n,
734 S.W.2d 541, 563 (Mo. App. E.D. 1987). While observing the strictest impartiality, the agency referee in an unemployment benefits case has the duty “to exercise considerable responsibility to explore the factual aspects of each situation that tend to prove or disprove the right of the claimant.” Lusher v. Gerald Harris Constr., Inc., 993 S.W.2d 537, 543
(Mo. App. W.D. 1999) (no bias was demonstrated by the interruptions to the claimant’s testimony or by the “general direction of the questioning” by the referee).

Hearing officers are presumed to be impartial. Jamison v....