[Federal Register: January 15, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 10)]
[Notices]               
[Page 2417-2420]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15ja98-89]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of The Secretary

 
Privacy Act of 1974; Proposed New Routine Use To an Existing 
System of Records

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Labor.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S. C. 
552a(e)(11)), the Department of Labor is issuing notice of our intent 
to amend the system of records entitled, DOL/OFO-1, Attendance, Leave, 
and Payroll File, to include a new routine use. The disclosure is 
required by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity 
Reconciliation Act (PRWORA, Pub.L. 104-193). We invite public comment 
on this publication.

DATES: Persons wishing to comment on the proposed routine use must do 
so by February 17, 1998.
    Effective date: The proposed routine use will become effective as 
proposed without further notice on February 17, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Interested individuals may comment on this publication by 
writing to Robert A. Shapiro, Associate Solicitor, Division of 
Legislation and Legal Counsel, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room N-
2428, Washington, DC 20210. All comments received will be available for 
public inspection at that address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Miriam McD. Miller, Co-Counsel for 
Administrative Law, Office of the Solicitor, Department of Labor, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW, Room N-2428, Washington, DC 20210, telephone 
(202) 219-8188, ext. 135.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section three of the Privacy Act 
of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)), hereinafter referred to as the Act, the 
Department hereby publishes notice of a proposed new routine use for 
the Department's existing payroll system of records. This document 
supplements this Department's last publication in full of all of its 
Privacy Act systems of records. On September 23, 1993, in Volume 58 at 
Page 49548 of the Federal Register, we published a notice containing 
138 systems of records which were maintained under the Act. Subsequent 
publications of new systems were made on April 15, 1994 (59 FR 
18156)(two new systems); on May 10, 1995 (60 FR 24897)(one new system); 
and on June 15, 1995 (60 FR 31495)(one new system); April 7, 1997 (62 
FR 16610)(one new system); and on October 14, 1997 (62 FR 53343) (one 
new system).
    The Department hereby proposes to amend an existing system of 
records, DOL/OCFO-1, Attendance, Leave and Payroll File, so that a new 
Routine Use can be established. Pursuant to Pub. L. 104-193, the 
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 
1996, this Department will disclose data from this system to the Office 
of Child Support Enforcement, Admininstration for Children and 
Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for use in the 
National Database of New Hires, part of the Federal Parent Locator 
System (FPLS) and Federal Tax Offset System, DHHS/OCSE No. 09-90-0074. 
A description of the Federal Parent Locator Service may be found at 62 
FR 51663 (October 2, 1997).
    FPLS is a computerized network through which States may request 
location information from Federal and State agencies to find non-
custodial parents and/or their employers for purposes of establishing 
paternity and securing support. On October 1, 1997, the FPLS was 
expanded to include the National Directory of New Hires, a database 
containing information on employees recently hired, quarterly wage data 
on private and public sector employees, and information on unemployment 
compensation benefits. On October 1, 1998, the FPLS will be expanded 
further to include a Federal Case Registry. The Federal Case Registry 
will contain abstracts on all participants involved in child support 
enforcement cases. When the Federal Case Registry is instituted, its 
files will be matched on an ongoing basis against the files in the 
National Directory of New Hires to determine if an employee is a 
participant in a child support case anywhere in the country. If the 
FPLS identifies a person as being a participant in a State child 
support case, that State will be notified of the participant's current 
employer. State requests to the FPLS for location information will also 
continue to be processed after October 1, 1998.
    When individuals are hired by the Department of Labor, we may 
disclose to the FPLS their names, social security numbers, home 
addresses, dates of birth, dates of hire, and information identifying 
us as the employer. We also may disclose to FPLS names, social security 
numbers, and quarterly earnings of each Department of Labor employee, 
within one month of the end of the quarterly reporting period.
    Information submitted by the Department of Labor to the FPLS will 
be disclosed by the Office of Child Support Enforcement to the Social 
Security Administration for verification to ensure that the social 
security number provided is correct. The data disclosed by the 
Department of Labor to the FPLS will also be disclosed by the Office of 
Child Support Enforcement to the Secretary of the Treasury for use in 
verifying claims for the advance payment of the earned income tax 
credit or to verify a claim of employment on a tax return.
    We are also making various minor grammatical corrections to this 
system. The names of agencies within the category for System Location 
are being updated. In the Records Category, two commas are being added, 
and two grammatical corrections are being made. Finally, two 
grammatical corrections are being made in the category for Purpose.

 Universal Routine Uses

    In its September 23, 1993 publication, the Department gave notice 
of eleven paragraphs containing routine uses which apply to all of its 
systems of records, except for DOL/OASAM-5 and DOL/OASAM-7. These 
eleven

[[Page 2418]]

paragraphs were presented in the General Prefatory Statement for that 
document, and it appeared at Pages 49554-49555 of Volume 58 of the 
Federal Register. Those eleven paragraphs were republished in an April 
15, 1994 document in order to correct grammatical mistakes in the 
September 23, 1993 version. In the May 10, 1995, June 15, 1995 and 
April 7, 1997 publication, the General Prefatory Statement was 
republished as a convenience to the reader of the document. In an 
October 14, 1997 publication, the General Prefatory Statement was again 
republished in order to make a syntactical change to paragraph 10. We 
are again republishing the General Prefatory Statement as a convenience 
to the reader.
    The public, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the 
Congress are invited to submit written comments on the proposed new 
routine use. A report on the proposed amendment to DOL/OCFO-1 has been 
provided to OMB and to the Congress as required by OMB Circular A-130, 
Revised, and 5 U.S.C. 552a(r).

General Prefatory Statement

    The following routine uses apply to and are incorporated by 
reference into each system of records published below unless the text 
of a particular notice of a system of records indicates otherwise. 
These routine uses do not apply to DOL/OASAM-5, Rehabilitation and 
Counseling File, nor to DOL/OASAM-7, Employee Medical Records.
    1. It shall be a routine use of the records in this system of 
records to disclose them to the Department of Justice when: (a) The 
agency or any component thereof; or (b) any employee of the agency in 
his or her official capacity where the Department of Justice has agreed 
to represent the employee; or (c) the United States Government, is a 
party to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and by 
careful review, the agency determines that the records are both 
relevant and necessary to the litigation and the use of such records by 
the Department of Justice is therefore deemed by the agency to be for a 
purpose that is compatible with the purpose for which the agency 
collected the records.
    2. It shall be a routine use of the records in this system of 
records to disclose them in a proceeding before a court or adjudicative 
body, when: (a) The agency or any component thereof; or (b) any 
employee of the agency in his or her official capacity; or (c) any 
employee of the agency in his or her individual capacity where the 
agency has agreed to represent the employee; or (d) the United States 
Government, is a party to litigation or has an interest in such 
litigation, and by careful review, the agency determines that the 
records are both relevant and necessary to the litigation and the use 
of such records is therefore deemed by the agency to be for a purpose 
that is compatible with the purpose for which the agency collected the 
records.
    3. When a record on its face, or in conjunction with other records, 
indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether civil, 
criminal or regulatory in nature, and whether arising by general 
statute or particular program statute, or by regulation, rule, or order 
issued pursuant thereto, disclosure may be made to the appropriate 
agency, whether Federal, foreign, State, local, or tribal, or other 
public authority responsible for enforcing, investigating or 
prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing 
the statute, or rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto, if 
the information disclosed is relevant to any enforcement, regulatory, 
investigative or prosecutive responsibility of the receiving entity, 
and by careful review, the agency determines that the records are both 
relevant and necessary to the litigation and the use of such records is 
therefore deemed by the agency to be for a purpose that is compatible 
with the purpose for which the agency collected the records.
    4. A record from this system of records may be disclosed to a 
Member of Congress or to a Congressional staff member in response to an 
inquiry of the Congressional office made at the written request of the 
constituent about whom the record is maintained.
    5. Records from this system of records may be disclosed to the 
National Archives and Records Administration or to the General Services 
Administration for records management inspections conducted under 44 
U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
    6. Disclosure may be made to agency contractors, or their 
employees, consultants, grantees, or their employees, or volunteers who 
have been engaged to assist the agency in the performance of a 
contract, service, grant, cooperative agreement or other activity 
related to this system of records and who need to have access to the 
records in order to perform the activity. Recipients shall be required 
to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 
5 U.S.C. 552a; see also 5 U.S.C. 552a(m).
    7. The name and current address of an individual may be disclosed 
from any system of records to the parent locator service of the 
Department of HHS or to other authorized persons defined by Pub. L. 93-
647 for the purpose of locating a parent who is not paying required 
child support.
    8. Disclosure may be made to any source from which information is 
requested in the course of a law enforcement or grievance 
investigation, or in the course of an investigation concerning 
retention of an employee or other personnel action, the retention of a 
security clearance, the letting of a contract, the retention of a 
grant, or the retention of any other benefit, to the extent necessary 
to identify the individual, inform the source of the purpose(s) of the 
request, and identify the type of information requested.
    9. Disclosure may be made to a Federal, State, local, foreign, or 
tribal or other public authority of the fact that this system of 
records contains information relevant to the hiring or retention of an 
employee, the granting or retention of a security clearance, the 
letting of a contract, a suspension or debarment determination or the 
issuance or retention of a license, grant, or other benefit.
    10. A record from any system of records set forth below may be 
disclosed to the Office of Management and Budget in connection with the 
review of private relief legislation and the legislative coordination 
and clearance process.
    11. Disclosure may be made to a debt collection agency that the 
United States has contracted with for collection services to recover 
debts owed to the United States.

Publication of a Proposed Amendment

    Accordingly, DOL/OCFO-1, Attendance, Leave, and Payroll File, a 
system notice recently amended at 62 FR 16614 (April 7, 1997), is 
further amended by amending the category for Routine Uses, by adding a 
new paragraph of routine use at the end of the existing text, to be 
designated as paragraph F., to read as set forth below. For the 
convenience of the reader, the newly revised system is being published 
in full as follows:
DOL/OCFO-1

SYSTEM NAME:
    Attendance, Leave, and Payroll File.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    None.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    A. Offices in Washington, D.C.:
    1. Office of the Secretary of Labor, including:

[[Page 2419]]

    a. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and 
Management, (OASAM);
    b. Office of the Solicitor of Labor;
    c. Office of Public Affairs;
    d. Bureau of International Labor Affairs;
    e. Employees' Compensation Appeals Board;
    f. Wage Appeals Board;
    g. Benefits Review Board;
    h. Office of Administrative Law Judges;
    i. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation;
    j. President's Committee on the Employment of People with 
Disabilities;
    k. National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee;
    l. National Commission for Employment Policy;
    m. Veteran's Employment and Training Service.
    2. Bureau of Labor Statistics;
    3. Employment Standards Administration, including the Office of 
Labor-Management Standards and the Office of Labor-Management Programs;
    4. Employment and Training Administration;
    5. Occupational Safety and Health Administration;
    6. Mine Safety and Health Administration;
    7. Office of the Inspector General;
    8. Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration; and
    9. The Chief Financial Officer for the Department.
    B. Regional and Area Offices of the above.
    C. Timekeepers.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Department of Labor employees.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    Name, social security number and employee number, grade, step, and 
salary, organization (code), retirement or FICA data as applicable. 
Federal, State, and local tax deductions, as appropriate. IRS tax lien 
data, savings bond and charity deductions; regular and optional 
government life insurance deduction(s), health insurance deduction and 
plan or code; cash award data; jury duty data, military leave data, pay 
differentials, union dues deductions, allotments by type and amount, 
Thrift Savings Plan contributions, financial institution code and 
employee account number, leave status and data of all types (including 
annual, compensatory, jury duty, maternity, military, retirement, 
disability, sick, transferred, and without pay), time and attendance 
records, including flexitime log sheets indicating number of regular, 
overtime, holiday, Sunday, and other hours worked, pay period number 
and ending date, cost of living allowances, co-owner and/or beneficiary 
of bonds, marital status, number of dependents, mailing address, 
``Notification of Personnel Action'', and claims by the employee for 
overtime, for back wages and for waivers. Consumer credit reports of 
individuals indebted to the United States, correspondence to and from 
the debtor, information or records relating to the debtor's current 
whereabouts, assets, liabilities, income and expenses, debtor's 
personal financial statements and other information such as the nature, 
amount and history of a debt owed by an individual covered by this 
system, and other records and reports relating to the implementation of 
the Debt Collection Act of 1982, including any investigative reports or 
administrative review matters. The individual records listed herein are 
included only as pertinent or applicable to the individual employee.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    31 U.S.C. 66(A).

PURPOSE(s):
    In compliance with principles and standards prescribed by the 
Comptroller General, this system manages the Department of Labor's 
compensation and benefits processing, accounting, and reporting. The 
system provides control procedures and systems to assure the complete 
and timely processing of input documents and output reports necessary 
to update and maintain the Department's Interactive Payroll System.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    A. Transmittal of data to the U.S. Treasury to effect issuance of 
paychecks or electronic fund transfers (EFT) to employees and 
distribution of pay according to employee directions for savings bonds, 
allotments to financial institutions, and other authorized purposes. 
Transmittal of Thrift Savings Plan data to the Thrift Savings Board to 
effect contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan. Tax withholding data 
sent to the Internal Revenue Service and appropriate State and local 
taxing authorities, FICA deductions to the Social Security 
Administration, dues deductions to labor unions, withholdings for 
health insurance to insurance carriers and the Office of Personnel 
Management, charity deductions to agents of charitable institutions, 
annual W-2 statements to taxing authorities and the individual, and 
transmittal of computer tape data to appropriate State and local 
governments for their benefits matching projects. Transmittal of 
employee's name, social security number, salary history to state 
unemployment insurance agencies in order to facilitate the processing 
of state unemployment insurance claims for DOL employees.
    B. Pursuant to section 13 of the Debt Collection Act of 1982, the 
name, Social Security Number, address(es), telephone number(s), and 
nature, amount and history of the debt of a current or former employee 
may be disclosed to private collection agencies for the purpose of 
collecting or compromising a debt existing in this system.
    C. Department of Justice and General Accounting Office: Information 
may be forwarded to the General Accounting Office and/or the Department 
of Justice as prescribed in the Joint Federal Claims Collection 
Standards (4 CFR Chapter II). When debtors fail to make payment through 
normal collection routines, the files are analyzed to determine the 
feasibility of enforced collection by referring the cases to the 
Department of Justice for litigation.
    D. Other Federal Agencies:
    (1) Pursuant to sections 5 and 10 of the Debt Collection Act of 
1982, information relating to the implementation of the Debt Collection 
Act of 1982 may be disclosed to other Federal Agencies to effect salary 
or administrative offsets, or for other purposes connected with the 
collection of debts owed to the United States.
    (2) A record from this system may be disclosed to a Federal Agency 
in response to its request in connection with the hiring/retention of 
an employee, the letting of a contract, or the issuance of a grant, 
license, or other benefit by the requesting agency, to the extent that 
the information is necessary and relevant to the requesting agency's 
decision on the matter.
    E. Internal Revenue Service:
    (1) Information contained in the system of records may be disclosed 
to the Internal Revenue Service to obtain taxpayer mailing addresses 
for the purpose of locating such taxpayer to collect, compromise, or 
write-off a Federal claim against the taxpayer.
    (2) Information may be disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service 
concerning the discharge of an indebtedness owed by an individual.
    F. The names, social security numbers, home addresses, dates of 
birth, dates of hire, quarterly earnings, employer identifying 
information, and State of hire of employees may be disclosed to the 
Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for

[[Page 2420]]

Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services for the 
purpose of locating individuals to establish paternity, establishing 
and modifying orders of child support, identifying sources of income, 
and for other child support enforcement actions as required by the 
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 
(Welfare Reform law, Pub. L. 104-193).

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
    The amount, status, and history of overdue debts, the name and 
address, taxpayer identification number (SSN), and other information 
necessary to establish the identity of a debtor, the agency and program 
under which the claim arose, are disclosed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b)(12) to consumer reporting agencies as defined by section 603(f) 
of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(f)), in accordance 
with section 3(d)(4)(A)(ii) of the Federal Claims Collection Act of 
1966, as amended (31 U.S.C. 3711(f)) for the purpose of encouraging the 
repayment of an overdue debt.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Manual and machine-readable files.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    By name and SSN.

SAFEGUARDS:
    Personnel screening and locked storage equipment.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Retained until after GAO audit. Records are then disposed of, or 
retired, according to specified agency/GRS records schedules.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    See the appropriate Agency Official in attached and at 29 CFR 
70a.43.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    As in system manager and address.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    As in system manager and address.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    As in system manager and address.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Employees, supervisors, timekeepers, official personnel records, 
the IRS, consumer credit reports, personal financial statements, 
correspondence with the debtor, records relating to hearings on the 
debt, and from other DOL systems of records.

SYSTEMS EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:
    None.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 9th day of January 1998.
Alexis M. Herman,
Secretary of Labor.
[FR Doc. 98-1033 Filed 1-14-98; 8:45 am]
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