52 IAC 5-5-8 Admissibility of evidence

Sec. 8. (a) The administrative law judge shall regulate the course of the proceedings without recourse to the rules of evidence. (b) A party may object to the admissibility of evidence during the hearing. The administrative law judge may defer a ruling on the admissibility of the evidence for the board's decision. If the administrative law judge defers a ruling, the evidence submitted must be entered for the record, and its admissibility will be considered by the board and addressed in the findings. (c) The board shall determine the relevance and weight to be assigned to the evidence. Although evidence may be admitted over the objection of a party, if the evidence: (1) is immaterial; (2) is irrelevant; or (3) should be excluded or disregarded on other grounds; it will not be assigned any weight in the board's final determination. (d) Hearsay evidence, as defined by Rule 801 of the Indiana Rules of Evidence, may be admitted. If the hearsay evidence is not objected to, the evidence may form the basis for a determination. However, if the evidence: (1) is properly objected to; and (2) does not fall within a recognized exception to the hearsay rule; the resulting determination may not be based solely on the hearsay evidence.