Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 4812 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 • FOGHORN SPECIALREPORT www.DelawareElevator.com ▲ Service ▲ Installation ▲ Repair ▲ Testing ▲ Certification Highly Qualified Technicians with Full Credentials Contact: Larry Hatch at 757-449-1619 LHatch@DelawareElevator.com Your Worldwide Marine Elevator Contractor! Offshore Rigs & Drillships Workboats & OSVs Commercial Ships US Government Ships Cruise Ships Mega Yachts T o promote safety at sea, Congress authorized the U.S. Coast Guard to suspend or revoke Merchant Mariner Credentials for acts of in- competence, misconduct, negligence, violations of law or regulation, and use of dangerous drugs. The Coast Guard initiates 400-600 suspension and revocation (S&R) cases each year. Full understanding of the suspension and revocation (S&R) process should therefore be more than a casual re- quirement for the working professional mariner. Suspending or revoking Credentials is a formal administrative process con- cerning a mariner’s Credential, the right to hold that Credential, and the right to serve under that Credential. Because a mariner’s Credential is a property right, the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act, and Coast Guard regulations provide due process protections when the govern- ment proposes suspending or revoking that Credential. To that end, the S&R hearing process is very similar to a civil trial in state or federal court without a jury but with streamlined discovery rules to ensure a just, speedy, and inexpen- sive determination. The hearing is not a criminal trial and the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) cannot sentence a mariner to incarceration or impose a fine. Rather, these administrative pro- ceedings are remedial in nature and are intended to help maintain standards for competence and conduct essential to the promotion of safety at sea. Administrative Law Judges The Coast Guard is one of 30 federal agencies administering laws requiring adjudication be conducted by Administrative Law Judges appointed under 5 U.S.C. § 3105, which is part of theAdministrative ProcedureAct. This is called formal adjudication. There are approximately 1,700 Administrative Law Judges in the federal government with most being in the Social Security Administration, Medicare Appeals, and the Department of Labor. The Coast Guard is currently authorized 6 ALJs and one Chief Judge. The ALJs are located in New York, Baltimore, New Orleans, Galveston, Alameda, and Seattle. The Chief Judge is located at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. ALJs are required to follow the law and case precedent as well as their own agency’s regulations and appeal decisions. Within that framework, ALJs have decisional independence which enables them to review the evidence, find facts, and issue decisions free from pressures of the parties or officials within the agency. To ensure decisional independence, the Office of Personnel Management’s regulations prohibit agencies, including the Coast Guard, from controlling ALJ’s salaries, conducting performance evaluations on them, or providing monetary/ honorary awards to ALJ’s. Pursuant to Memorandum of Agreement, Coast Guard ALJs also adjudicate cases for agency compo- nents of the Department of Homeland Security such as the Transportation Security Administration. As time and availability permit, Coast Guard ALJs also adjudicate cases for other agencies on a reimbursable basis in support of the Office of Personnel Management’s ALJ Loan Program. For example, Coast Guard Judges assisted the Special Master of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund in adjudicating claims arising from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Complaint ACoast Guard Investigating Officer initiates S&R proceedings by filing a Complaint with the ALJ Docketing Center and serving it on the mariner who is the subject of the Complaint. That mariner is referred to as the Coast Guard Suspension and Revocation – A Primer By Chief Judge Walter J. Brudzinski, United States Coast Guard Editor’s Note: This article is reprinted with permission from the Q3 2016 edition of Maritime Logistics Professional; www.MaritimeLogisticsProfessional.com