Whether the administrative appeal against the opposition decision was filed within the statutory time limit
No. The appeal deadline began after the Christmas recess, expired on 2015-02-02, and the filing on 2015-02-09 was late.
Under Art. 60 LPGA, the 30-day appeal period was suspended during the feries from 18 December to 2 January. As the contested decision was notified during the feries, the period started on 2015-01-03 and expired on a Sunday, with the deadline carried forward to Monday 2015-02-02. Any misinformation allegedly given by the ORP on 2015-02-04 was irrelevant because the deadline had already expired.