Office of Administrative Hearings Privacy and Security Policy

State of Maryland | Effective Date: October 2026

Thank you for visiting a website published and managed by the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). This statement applies specifically to OAH websites, administrative case management portals, and services.

1. Introduction

The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) is an independent state agency committed to conducting fair, impartial, and timely administrative hearings for executive branch agencies and Maryland citizens. We are committed to maintaining the confidentiality, accuracy, and security of your Personal Information (as defined in Section 2) and applying generally accepted fair information privacy principles. This Privacy Notice applies specifically to the official OAH website (and any authorized subsites or administrative case management portals) and governs our practices regarding the collection, processing, protection, and disclosure of Personal Information. OAH is responsible for maintaining and protecting Personal Information under its custody and control. This Privacy Notice applies to all Personal Information collected, used, and disclosed by OAH across all channels, including our online services, electronic case filing systems, in-person hearing proceedings, telephone interactions, and written correspondence.

2. What Personal Information We Collect

In performing our statutory duty to schedule, manage, and conduct administrative hearings, OAH may collect and process the following categories of information about you (“Personal Information”):

• Standard Identifiers: Full legal name, mailing address(s), telephone number(s), and email address.
• Case Identifiers: OAH case numbers, referring agency case numbers, legal representative contact information, and party/witness designations.
• Government-Issued Identifiers: Driver's license number, state identification card number, or other state/federal identification numbers required for case processing.
• Financial Information: Payment amounts for filing fees or media requests.
• Sensitive & Evidentiary Data: Case filings, exhibits, hearing recordings, or transcripts that may contain sensitive data relevant to an administrative proceeding).

This information is collected in accordance with applicable federal and state laws relevant to administrative hearings and public agency records, including the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA), the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act, and relevant agency regulations (COMAR 28.02.01).

3. Why We Collect and Use Your Personal Information

Why We Collect Your Information

We collect, process, and maintain Personal Information to fulfill our core administrative and judicial functions. Specifically, we collect this information to:

• Receive, docket, schedule, and manage administrative hearing requests forwarded by state or local agencies or filed directly by members of the public.
• Serve notices of hearing, subpoenas, orders, decisions, and official case communications to parties, attorneys, and witnesses.
• Process requests for accommodations, continuances, remote hearing access, or official transcripts.
• Maintain official administrative records and audio/video recordings of hearing proceedings.

How We Use Your Information

Beyond processing administrative appeals and issuing decisions, OAH uses your information to manage and improve agency operations, perform case load data analytics, and comply with legal mandates. Where permitted or required by law, case-related information may be shared with referring state agencies, judicial appellate courts, or authorized legal entities.

4. Knowledge and Consent

Your knowledge and consent are required for the collection, processing, or disclosure of Personal Information, except when the law permits us to do so without your knowledge or consent. The purposes for which we collect Personal Information will be identified before or at the time we collect the information. Providing us with your Personal Information is always your choice. However, your decision not to provide certain information may limit our ability to provide you with the services you seek. We will not require you to consent to the collection, processing, or disclosure of information as a condition to the supply of a product or service, unless such information is necessary to provide the product or service to you, or if it is required by law. Your signature on a document or “clicking” your agreement on an electronic application serves as your consent.

5. Limiting Collection

We adhere to data minimization principles, collecting only the Personal Information that is reasonably necessary, proportionate, and directly relevant to fulfill the specified purposes. In the event we receive your Personal Information from a third party, such as the federal government or an identity verification vendor, we enter into appropriate agreements and request only that information required to meet a contractual or statutory purpose.

6. Use, Disclosure, and Retention of Personal Information

Unless you give permission, this Notice explains otherwise, or the law requires or allows it, we use or share your Personal Information only for the purpose for which it was collected. We retain your Personal Information only for as long as necessary to meet that purpose, following approved state records retention schedules, or in compliance with the law.

We may share Personal Information with third parties that process your Personal Information on our behalf so that we can fulfill your requests. Prior to sharing Personal Information with these third parties we enter into agreements with them requiring them to adhere to strict obligations regarding data use, protection, security, confidentiality, and non-disclosure. We do not sell your personal information to any third-party under any circumstances.

To better serve Marylanders, we may de-identify or anonymize personal information that pertains to you for our performance improvements, and may make it available to other State agencies so they can measure and improve service performance, or for research purposes. New protection methods, like privacy enhancing technologies (“PETs”), such as data masking, differential privacy, federated learning, homomorphic encryption, zero-knowledge proofs, and trusted execution environments, ensure that Maryland State agencies can securely utilize anonymous data without releasing any personal information.

Information that you share with us, including Personal Information, may be subject to public disclosure if required by the Maryland Public Information Act General Provision Article § 4-101 et seq., if necessary to perform our official duties, or as otherwise required by applicable law. However, Maryland law includes exemptions that protect certain information from being publicly released in specified circumstances.

7. Accuracy

We strive to maintain Personal Information in as accurate, complete, and up-to-date form as is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which you provided it. We may ask for or implement verification processes to maintain up-to-date Personal Information. Pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act (General Provisions Article § 4-502 — “Corrections of Public Record”), data subjects have the right to request corrections, update old information, or add missing details to their records. You are responsible for ensuring that the Personal Information you provide to us is accurate and current, and you should notify organizations whenever your details change.

8. Safeguarding Personal Information

State and federal laws provide comprehensive protections for the Personal Information provided to OAH. Pursuant to Maryland law and the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) security standards, OAH protects Personal Information using reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the nature of the data and our operations.

We utilize data encryption, strict role-based access controls, secure case management storage, and routine audit logging to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access, alteration, or disclosure. In the event that Personal Information under our control is compromised due to a security incident or data breach, OAH will notify impacted individuals and the appropriate regulatory oversight authorities in compliance with Maryland data breach notification laws.

9. Privacy Notice Changes

We will make information available to you about our policies and practices with respect to how we manage Personal Information. Following statutory directives and industry best practices, we review and update our privacy notices at least annually to ensure they accurately reflect current data practices, new system implementations, or evolving legal frameworks. We will inform you of significant changes to our privacy practices by posting an updated Privacy Notice with a “Last Updated” date.

10. Access to Personal Information

Upon your request, we will inform you of the existence, use or disclosure of your Personal Information. You may gain access to and verify the accuracy and completeness of your Personal Information. You may also request amendment or deletion of the Personal Information we obtained directly from you, as permitted by law and subject to State records retention schedules. To make changes to Personal Information that we have received about you from a third party, contact that third party directly, as we cannot update third-party records.

There may be times when we are prohibited from disclosing certain information to you. For example, we cannot provide access to records that contain the Personal Information of other individuals, or where other legal, law enforcement, or security restrictions apply. If we are unable to fulfill your request, we will provide a clear explanation and document the denial in your record.

11. Artificial Intelligence

As technology advances, you may interact with Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) directly (such as through a public-facing chatbot) or indirectly when we utilize automated systems or algorithms to process your Personal Information. We will maintain strict transparency during direct AI interactions. We follow the State of Maryland's Responsible AI Policy and related guidelines to ensure your privacy is protected.

12. How to Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Notice, wish to submit a privacy-related inquiry, or need to exercise your data rights regarding records held by OAH, please contact our designated Privacy Office / Public Information Act Officer:

13. E-Mail

If you send us an e-mail, we may use the information you sent us to respond to your inquiry, just as we do with written correspondence. E-mail correspondence, like mailed correspondence, may become a public record, and could be disclosed to other parties upon their request in accordance with the Maryland Public Information Act.

14. Website Privacy

This section explains specific privacy practices related to websites maintained by the Office of Administrative Hearings and the State of Maryland.

a) Cookies

A cookie is a small computer file or piece of information that may be stored on your computer's hard drive when you visit our websites. We may use cookies to improve our website's functionality, track aggregate navigation metrics, and provide visitors with a customized online experience.

Cookies are widely used, and most web browsers are configured initially to accept cookies automatically. You may change your browser settings to prevent your computer from accepting cookies, or to notify you when you receive a cookie, so that you may decline it. Please note that disabling cookies may limit your access to certain features and affect your overall experience on our website.

b) Information Collected and Stored Automatically

When you browse our websites, read pages, or download information, certain information about your visit is automatically gathered and stored. This information does not identify you personally and includes the following:

• The internet domain (example: oah.maryland.gov or Maryland.gov) and the IP address (the number automatically assigned to your computer when surfing the Web) from which you access the site;
• The type of browser and operating system used to access the site;
• The date and time you access the site;
• The specific page(s) you visit and documents downloaded; and
• Your navigation through the website and actions (such as clicking a button), excluding any content entered into form fields other than search terms.

This information is used to make our websites more useful to visitors, to learn about the number of visitors to our sites, and the types of technology our visitors use. We do not track or record identifying information about individuals and their personal visits.

c) Other Websites

Our websites may contain links to other third-party sites that are not governed by this Privacy Notice. Although we try to only link to sites with high privacy standards, our Privacy Notice does not apply once you leave our website. Additionally, we are not responsible for the privacy practices employed by third-party websites. Therefore, you should read their individual privacy statements to learn how they collect, use, share, and disclose your information.

d) Site Security

To ensure that our websites remain secure and available to all users, we employ commercial software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage.

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on our websites are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under State and Federal laws that protect against fraud and abuse of computer systems.