Deliberations
After the hearing, the hearing officer should deliberate on the evidence admitted at the hearing and arrive at a decision in an expeditious fashion. If additional information or clarification is required after the hearing, both parties must be present to hear the information, unless one of the parties elects not to be present.

Use of Adverse Inferences
Although a hearing officer does not have subpoena power, he has the authority to draw adverse factual inferences against a party, if that party, without just cause, has failed to produce relevant documents or has failed to make available relevant witnesses as the hearing officer or the EDR Director had ordered. Under such circumstances, an adverse inference could be drawn with respect to any factual conflicts resolvable by the ordered documents or witnesses. For example, if the agency withholds documents without just cause, and those documents could resolve a disputed material fact pertaining to the grievance, the hearing officer could resolve that factual dispute in the grievant’s favor.

Written Decision
A written decision should be issued no later than 35 calendar days after the date shown on the hearing officer’s appointment letter, allowing for an additional three days from the date of appointment for mailing. The decision must resolve the grievance on the merits of the substantive issue(s) qualified and not on procedural issues. Issues that have not been qualified in the grievance assigned to the hearing officer are not before that hearing officer, and may not be resolved or remedied. Decisions should be brief but thorough, and written as soon as possible after the hearing when the testimony of the witnesses is fresh.

The decision must contain a statement of the issues qualified; findings of fact on material issues and the grounds in the record for those findings; any related conclusions of law or policy; any aggravating or mitigating circumstances that are pertinent to the decision; and clearly identified order(s) specifying whether the agency’s action has been upheld, reversed, or modified, and clearly listing all required actions and any recommended actions. Finally, the decision must include, within its text, information regarding a party’s right to appeal the decision.

EDR publishes all hearing decisions on its web site in a searchable format. In an effort to protect personal privacy, the decision itself must not reference any individual by name. The hearing officer must send his or her decision with a cover letter to the parties by certified mail, return receipt requested. In the alternative, the hearing officer may e-mail or fax the decision to the parties so long as proof of receipt is established. The decision must also be provided to the EDR Director by first class U.S. mail and in an electronic format, either "text only" or Microsoft® Word. The electronic version may be sent on a 3-½ floppy disk or as an e-mail attachment to administrator@edr.virginia.gov. See Appendix B for further information regarding EDR’s policy on drafting and publishing hearing decisions.