The D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) is an independent agency that serves as an administrative court. An "administrative court" is part of the executive branch of government and specializes mainly in cases involving government agency decisions and actions against individuals. As an independent agency, OAH is separate from the agencies involved in the decisions or actions and is neutral in every case.
OAH is created by District law and is given authority to hear and decide only certain types of disputes. A court’s authority over a disputed case is called “jurisdiction.” If you want to learn more about the laws that give OAH jurisdiction over certain cases and govern how OAH operates, visit the Rules & Laws page.
The Help page is here to answer common questions about particular types of cases under OAH’s jurisdiction. To find the information you need, click on your case type from the list below. If you do not see the type of case you are looking for, click on “Other” at the bottom of the list.
If at any point you have questions or don’t understand something, you can contact the OAH Resource Center by calling (202) 442-9094 and pressing “4” from the main menu, or by emailing [email protected].