The United States Department of Labor launched the new eFile/eServe System (“EFS”) on Monday, December 7, 2020.

EFS is the Department’s next generation, shared system for electronic filing in proceedings before the Administrative Review Board (“ARB”), Benefits Review Board (“BRB”), Employee Compensation Appeals Board (“ECAB”), Office of Administrative Law Judges (“OALJ”), and Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (“BALCA”).  

The ARB and ECAB promulgated rules requiring electronic filing for represented parties. Those rules went into effect on February 25, 2021 and e-filing will become mandatory on April 12, 2021. The BRB and OALJ proposed rules requiring electronic filing for represented parties, and the second comment period on those proposals closed on April 1. The BRB and OALJ are in the process of reviewing the comments and determining how to proceed.

During rulemaking, the Department conducted listening sessions for users to provide feedback on EFS.  In response to that feedback, the Office of the Chief Information Officer (“OCIO”) has made an interim operational adjustment to improve user experience.  Specifically, OALJ issued documents, such as orders and decisions, will be served by OALJ on e-filers, and the additional EFS eServe email notifications of such service will be disabled. This adjustment will reduce the number of e-mails received by users, and will not require the user to navigate to EFS to receive the OALJ-issued document. 

In addition, OCIO will conduct informational webinars focusing on specific topics. Please see the announcement with the webinar details.