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Alaska Administrative Code (Last Updated: January 12, 2017) |
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Title 21. Ombudsman. |
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Chapter 21.25. Complaint Intake and Ombudsman Investigations. |
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Article 21.25.1. Receiving and Evaluating Complaints. |
Section 21.25.060. Declining a complaint.
Latest version.
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(a) The ombudsman will decline to investigate a complaint for any of the following reasons: (1) the complaint does not involve an administrative act, as defined in AS 24.55, by an agency within the jurisdiction of the ombudsman; (2) the merits of the complaint are the subject of a judicial proceeding pending at the time the ombudsman receives the complaint; (3) investigation of the complaint would require the ombudsman to make findings on a matter already decided by a court; (4) the complainant is an employee who is represented by a union, and the collective bargaining agreement provides the sole dispute resolution process to decide the merits of the complaint, regardless of whether the union chooses to pursue all steps of a grievance on behalf of the complainant; (5) the ombudsman reasonably believes that the complaint cannot be investigated or resolved without disclosing the complainant's identity, or other information provided by the complainant, and the complainant refuses to consent to the disclosure. (b) The ombudsman may decline to investigate a complaint for any of the following reasons: (1) the ombudsman believes the complainant has not given the agency a reasonable opportunity to remedy the complaint; (2) the substance of the complaint is the subject of a pending administrative appeal or administrative hearing at the time the ombudsman receives the complaint, or the ombudsman determines that the merits of the complaint may be more appropriately resolved by an administrative hearing or administrative appeal for which the complainant may make timely application; (3) the ombudsman determines that applicable law or administrative procedures provided a remedy for the complainant that appeared adequate under the circumstances, and the complainant neither made use of that remedy nor provided a reasonable explanation for the failure to do so; (4) the complaint is filed by or on behalf of a municipality that employs a municipal attorney or that retains the services of an attorney for general legal counsel; (5) the complainant does not demonstrate a personal interest in the complaint distinguishable from the interest of any membcr of the general public; (6) the ombudsman requests that the complainant provide information or records to assist the ombudsman in evaluating the complaint, as provided in 21 AAC 25.010(d), but the complainant fails to provide the information or records within a reasonable time specified by the ombudsman; (7) the ombudsman determines that investigation of the complaint will require specialized expertise that the ombudsman does not have and cannot readily obtain, taking into account the funds available to the ombudsman; (8) the complainant's requested remedy for the complaint is impractical, unreasonable, or the complainant does not request a remedy, and the ombudsman concludes that investigation of the complaint is unlikely to yield a remedy that will assist either the complainant or the general public. (c) The ombudsman may also decline a complaint for any reason stated in AS 24.55.110. (d) Under AS 24.55.110(3), the ombudsman will consider "an unreasonable length of time" to be any time over a year, unless the ombudsman concludes that severe injustice to the complainant would result from enforcing the one year time limit.
Authorities
24.55.090;24.55.100;24.55.110