A. The manner in which disputed claims shall be presented, reports required from the claimant and from employers, the conduct of hearings and appeals before any deputy, appeal tribunal or the Commission, and transcripts prepared shall be in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Commission for determining the rights of the parties. Such regulations need not conform to common law or statutory rules of evidence and other technical rules of procedure. A full and complete record shall be kept of all proceedings in connection with a disputed claim. All testimony at any hearing upon a disputed claim shall be recorded, but need not be transcribed unless the disputed claim is further appealed and a timely request for a hearing before the Commission has been made in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Commission. In lieu of providing a transcript, and with the consent of all parties who participated in the hearing, the Commission may provide a digital or other electronic recording of the testimony taken at any hearing, which recording may be transmitted in any medium provided that the recording is protected from unauthorized interception by reasonable security measures.

B. Information furnished the Commission under the provisions of this chapter shall not be published or be open to public inspection, other than to public employees in the performance of their public duties. Neither such information, nor any determination or decision rendered under the provisions of § 60.2-619, 60.2-620 or 60.2-622, shall be used in any judicial or administrative proceeding other than one arising out of the provisions of this title; however, the Commission shall make its records about a claimant available to the Workers’ Compensation Commission if it requests such records. The Commission may also, in its discretion, furnish copies of the transcript of hearings to any party.

C. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection B, the Commission shall, on a reimbursable basis, furnish wage and unemployment compensation information contained in its records to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and Virginia’s child support enforcement agency for their use as necessary for the purposes of the National Directory of New Hires established under § 453 (i) of the Social Security Act.

D. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection B, the Commission shall, upon written request, furnish any agency or political subdivision of the Commonwealth such information as it may require for the purpose of collecting fines, penalties, and costs owed to the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions. Such information shall not be published or used in any administrative or judicial proceeding, except in matters arising out of the collection of fines, penalties, and costs owed to the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions.

History

Code 1950, § 60-53; 1968, c. 738, § 60.1-65; 1972, c. 764; 1986, c. 480; 1988, c. 766; 1994, c. 203; 1996, cc. 108, 130; 1997, c. 385; 1998, cc. 91, 745; 2012, c. 50.