(1) The board may defer to a board agent from the department's Office of Administrative Hearings or its designee to conduct hearings.

(2) All documents, pleadings, and papers to be filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings shall be eight and one-half inches by eleven inches (8 1/2" x 11") in size, standard quality, opaque, unglazed paper, with a minimum 50 percent recycled content, of which at least ten percent shall be postconsumer waste, and be printed on both sides (double sided). Exhibits or other documents shall be reproduced in like size unless the original exhibit is required. A hearing officer may require the reproduction of an oversized demonstrative or other exhibit in a size appropriate for the record.

(3) The place of filing documents with the Office of Administrative Hearings is the offices of the Office of Administrative Hearings, Department of Labor and Industry, P.O. Box 1728, Helena, Montana 59624-1728, or during a hearing, by personal delivery to the presiding hearing officer.

(4) Filing with the Office of Administrative Hearings is effective upon actual receipt at the offices of the department or by the hearing officer at the hearing and not upon mailing.

(5) Copies of all submissions filed must be served upon all parties of record, including intervenors or other parties allowed to appear for special purposes, and all submissions must contain or be accompanied by a certificate of service showing proof of the method of service and the date upon which such service was made. Service of copies of submissions upon parties shall be made in accordance with the Montana Rules of Civil Procedure and may be made by means of first class mail, postage prepaid, unless the hearing officer designates another manner of service.

(6) The hearing officer may accept telephonic or oral filings of motions or requests for procedural relief, subject to recording by means of minute entry, note, or the subsequent filing of a true and accurate recording of such matters, upon fair and timely notice to all parties of record.

(7) Filing of a facsimile copy of a document of no more than 20 pages, which is an exact duplicate of the original, shall meet the filing requirements of these rules only if the facsimile copy is followed within five days by filing of the original or original copy of the document and required copies.

(8) The board agent shall issue a recommended order and serve a copy on each party.