Administrative Law – Agency Processes

In this Assignment, you will write a 6–8 page essay (including Cover and Reference pages) addressing the questions identified in the three scenarios below.

In each of the scenarios below, you will research and analyze the processes of an agency decision or action and assess how the processes in a specific situation contribute to a possible outcome. While analyzing these questions, include the following terms and show how they are applicable to the given scenario:

·             Substantive Rule Making

·             Interpretive Rule Making

·             Licensing Powers

·             Federal Register

·             Administrative subpoena

·             Administrative search

·             Administrative decision

·             Due Process

·             Complaint

·             Administrative hearing

·             Order

·             Administrative remedies

For these scenarios, you may access the websites of the particular administrative agencies (particularly for Scenario B) and use any other reliable sources.

SCENARIO A

You work as a consultant in environmental regulatory issues. A new client is a waste management firm. Your boss had obtained a license from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to participate in a “green”-disposal credit program. His license is later revoked without a hearing. Your client wants to know:

1.          Does he have a constitutional challenge for the revocation of a license?

2.          If he is unsuccessful in challenging the EPA regarding the revocation of his license, can he take the revocation of his license to court?

SCENARIO B

You work for a nonprofit that counsels people who have discrimination problems in the workplace. A woman who has been sexually harassed at work asks how she might prosecute a case with a federal agency. You know the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would handle this case. After researching, you explain to her:

1.          How to file a complaint with the EEOC.

2.          What the EEOC’s investigative powers are and how the EEOC conducts an investigation.

3.          Whether the final agency action would be a decision or alternative dispute resolution. Explain both types of final agency actions.

SCENARIO C

You are an administrative law attorney for a businessperson who owns a building downtown that has exceptions from being handicapped-accessible. He has heard that the Department of Justice’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) division is proposing a rule that will remove those particular exceptions. You feel that this is a substantive rule. You need to explain to him how the following might apply in his case:

1.          The differences between formal and informal rule-making.

2.          The differences between substantive and interpretive rulemaking.

3.          Why a substantive rule allows for the public notice and comment and how one can find the rule.