TLC Summary Suspension: Hearing Deadlines & Rights

A summary suspension means TLC suspends your license first and holds the hearing after. Normally TLC must prove a charge before it can punish you. A summary suspension flips that order, so the rules give you something in return: the right to a fast hearing — but only if you ask in time. Depending on the type, you have 10 or 15 calendar days. Weekends count.

All the deadlines below come from TLC's enforcement rules in Chapter 68 of the TLC Rule Book. For the term itself, see the glossary entry for summary suspension.

Three types, three clocks

Type 1: Suspension pending revocation

The TLC Chair can summarily suspend a license if continued licensing "would constitute a direct and substantial threat to public health or safety," while revocation proceedings go ahead. The rule lists examples: driving a TLC vehicle while impaired by alcohol or drugs; bribery, fraud, material misrepresentation, theft, threats, harassment, abuse or physical force; possessing a weapon in the vehicle; and a positive drug test or a sample that cannot be tested (Rule 68-15(a)). Chapter 80 adds serious crashes: if you are charged with a traffic violation or crime in a crash where someone was critically injured or killed, your license may be summarily suspended on a finding that your conduct was a substantial cause (Rule 80-14(h), TLC Chapter 80).

TLC must notify you by personal service or first-class mail within 5 days of the suspension. Then:

If you don't ask in time, you waive the fast hearing, your case is scheduled the normal way, and the suspension continues until a judge lifts it at the revocation hearing (Rule 68-15(b)(4)).

Type 2: Suspension because of criminal charges

The Chair can summarily suspend based on pending criminal charges if the charges, if true, would show that continued licensing is a direct and substantial threat. The rule covers any felony charge and a list of other offenses, including assault in the third degree, reckless endangerment in the second degree, forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child, fourth-degree weapon possession, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving while impaired or intoxicated under Vehicle and Traffic Law §1192 (Rule 68-15(d)(1)).

What is different here:

• TLC does not have to start revocation while the criminal case is open, but you are entitled to request a summary suspension hearing; TLC must schedule it within 10 calendar days of your request (Rule 68-15(d)(3)–(4)).
• TLC carries the burden. At the hearing TLC must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the pending charges, if true, show that keeping your license during the criminal case would pose a direct and substantial threat (Rule 68-15(d)(5)).
• You can present evidence about the facts behind the charges and how they relate to driving, your driving record, your criminal record or lack of one, and your character and standing in the community.
• Strict decision deadlines. The judge's recommended decision is due within 10 business days of the close of the record. You then get a copy and 10 calendar days to respond, and the Chair must decide within 20 calendar days of the recommended decision. If the judge recommends lifting the suspension, the Chair has 5 business days to accept or tell you why it may be rejected. Missed deadlines mean the suspension is lifted until a decision is made (Rule 68-15(d)(6)–(8)).
• When the criminal case ends, give TLC the certificate of disposition. If the charges were dismissed, withdrawn or reduced to an offense not on the list, TLC must lift the suspension within 1 business day. Otherwise, within 5 business days TLC must either lift it or start revocation proceedings (Rule 68-15(d)(9)).

Talk to your criminal defense lawyer before you testify at a TLC hearing while a criminal case is open. What you say can matter in both.

Type 3: Suspension pending compliance

Some rules carry the penalty "summary suspension until compliance." Under Rule 68-16, TLC sends a notice describing the violation. The suspension starts immediately if the notice is handed to you, or five days after mailing if it is mailed. You may ask for an expedited hearing within 10 calendar days (hand-delivered) or 15 calendar days from mailing (mailed). TLC reinstates the license once you pay all fines and comply to the Chair's satisfaction (Rule 68-16(e)).

The exception is the annual drug test. A driver suspended for failing to test on time is not entitled to a hearing, but may send one written submission within 10 calendar days of the notice. An OATH hearing officer reviews it and issues a decision you can appeal. If you send nothing, you are deemed guilty (Rule 68-16(d)). For the test itself, see the TLC drug test guide.

In practice, the fastest way out of a compliance suspension is usually to comply. The step-by-step version is in how to lift a TLC suspension.

How to request the hearing

The notice tells you how to respond — Rule 68-16(b) requires compliance notices to include instructions. Follow them exactly and keep proof of when you sent the request: an email with a timestamp, or a mailing receipt. If you cannot find the instructions, TLC's Contact page lists a suspensions email for licenses suspended "due to an arrest for a criminal offense or a failed drug test," and the Prosecution Unit at Prosecutioninquiries@tlc.nyc.gov for questions about reasons for suspension and case status (Contact TLC).

What can come next

A summary suspension is often the first step, not the last. Pending-revocation cases continue to a full revocation hearing; some cases become fitness hearings; and a guilty finding can lead to license revocation. If you are unsure which kind of suspension you have, start at TLC license suspended: what to do.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Summary suspension deadlines are short — contact a lawyer the day you get the notice.