[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 174 (Thursday, September 10, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46637-46639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-21804]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
Departmental Office of Civil Rights; Privacy Act of 1974; System
of Records Notice (SORN)
AGENCY: Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice to establish a system of records.
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SUMMARY: DOT intends to establish a system of records under the Privacy
Act of 1974 to facilitate the provision of reasonable accommodations to
individuals with disabilities by establishing procedures, timeframes
and forms for supervisors/decision makers to use in processing requests
from employees and applicants for employment, called the On-line
Accommodation Tracking System (OATS). The system enhances compliance
with Executive Order 13164, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) guidance, and DOT Order 1011.1 ``Procedures for Processing
Reasonable Accommodation Requests by DOT Job Applicants and Employees
with Disabilities.'' DOT is required to collect information on
accommodation requests and report annually whether requested
accommodations were provided or denied within the allowable time frame
established by agency procedures (a maximum of 25 business days for
DOT).
The system was created to capture the required information. The
system will assist supervisors/decision makers in ensuring that a
decision to grant or deny is made timely and if granted, that the
accommodation is provided within the time frame allowed, and will allow
timeliness to be monitored by a designated OATS Administrator in each
DOT organization.
The system of records is more thoroughly detailed below and in a
Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) that DOT will post on the DOT Privacy
Web site at www.dot.gov/privacy.
DATES: Comments are due October 20, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to: Christy Compton, Disability Program
Manager, Departmental Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590; or
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For privacy issues please contact:
Habib Azarsina, Departmental Privacy Officer, Office of the Chief
Information Officer, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, 202-366-1965; or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. The Privacy Act
The Privacy Act (5 USC 552a) governs the means by which the United
States Government collects, maintains, and uses Personally Identifiable
Information (PII) in a system of records. A ``system of records'' is a
group of any records under the control of a Federal agency from which
information about individuals is retrieved by name or other personal
identifier.
The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish in the Federal
Register a notice in accordance with the System of Record Notice (SORN)
which requires identifying and describing each system of records the
agency maintains, including the purposes for which the agency uses PII
in the system, the routine uses for which the agency discloses such
information outside the agency, and how individuals can exercise their
rights under the Privacy Act (e.g., to determine if the system contains
information about them).
II. Privacy Impact Assessment
DOT has prepared a PIA to coincide with this SORN. It will be
posted on the DOT Privacy Web site at http://www.dot.gov/privacy.
In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), a report on the establishment
of this new system of records has been sent to Congress and to the
Office of Management and Budget.
SYSTEM NUMBER:
DOT/ALL 20
SYSTEM NAME:
On-line Accommodation Tracking System (OATS)
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Sensitive, unclassified.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
Servers: The Servers hosting OATS are maintained in a secure
government facility in Frederick, MD, which is staffed 24 hours a day,
7 days a week.
Portals: Supervisors, modal OATS administrators, and the
Departmental Office of Civil Rights' system manager
[[Page 46638]]
may access the system via desktop computers that are in the secure DOT
computer network.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Employees and applicants who request reasonable accommodation for a
disability.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Once a request for accommodation is received by a supervisor/
decision maker, the supervisor/decision maker enters the request,
including the date it is received, the name of the individual making
the request, the type of request made, and other relevant information
into OATS.
PII in the system consists of: employee's or applicant's name,
functional limitation caused by the disability, reasonable
accommodation (RA) requested, explanation of how RA would assist the
applicant in the application process or the employee in performing his/
her job or receiving the benefits and privileges of employment, dates
when the required interactive discussions were held, notes from
discussion regarding the request, action by deciding official, whether
medical documentation was sought, justification for requesting medical
documentation, any sources of technical assistance that were consulted,
and if the request was denied, the reason for denial (but not medical
documentation, which will be kept in a separate file).
Non-PII in the system includes: The employee's or applicant's
occupational series and grade or pay equivalent, operating
administration, division or office, position title, office location and
address and office telephone number; and the deciding official's name,
title and office telephone number.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 791;
Executive Order 13164.
PURPOSE(S):
The purpose for which the system collects information is to
implement government-wide requirements and uniform DOT procedures to
track and monitor reasonable accommodation requests. The system makes
data available to DOT personnel involved in processing and monitoring
reasonable accommodation requests. The system of records will serve as
the agency's record of the administrative events pertaining to the
approval or disapproval of each requested accommodation and will
provide aggregate data on the number and type of requests and timelines
for approving or disapproving the requests.
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
These records, and the information in these records, may be
disclosed outside of DOT as follows:
(1) To a congressional office from the record of an individual in
response to an Inquiry from the congressional office made at the
request of the individual.
(2) To an authorized appeal grievance examiner, formal complaints
examiner, administrative judge, equal employment opportunity
investigator, arbitrator or other duly authorized official engaged in
investigation or settlement of a grievance, complaint, or appeal filed
by an employee.
(3) To another Federal agency, to a court, or a party in litigation
before a court or in an administrative proceeding being conducted by a
Federal agency when the Government is a party to the judicial or
administrative hearing.
Other possible routine uses of the information, applicable to all
DOT systems, are published in the Federal Register at 65 FR 19476
(April 11, 2000), under ``Prefatory Statement of General Routine Uses''
(available at http://www.dot.gov/privacy/privacyactnotices/).
DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
None.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING,
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
Data files are maintained on servers in a secure government
facility located in Frederick, MD 21703, staffed twenty-four hours per
day, seven days a week.
RETRIEVABILITY:
Records are retrieved by the date of the reasonable accommodation
request, the name of the deciding official, the name of the employee or
employment applicant's name, record number, and operating
administration or office.
SAFEGUARDS:
Designated, approved Federal employees have access to this system
according to job roles and responsibilities for use in their respective
jobs. These employees are fully aware of the need to keep the
information confidential and already have duties in the area of
reasonable accommodation. Each supervisor can see only the records that
s/he entered.
All IT support staff and contractors are briefed on IT security
requirements and associated responsibilities.
Access to the system is controlled by user credentials maintained
in a secure database.
All personally identifiable information maintained in the system is
encrypted via availability, economics, and solutions technology. The
system uses Secure Socket Layer to ensure secure data transmission over
the internet. Access to records in OATS is limited to specific DOT
personnel. Electronic access to PII is limited according to job
function. DOT controls access privileges according to a documented
roles matrix, with each individual receiving the minimum necessary
access to PII and permissions. In addition, access to PII requires
access to a secure site with complex password requirements. Password
and account procedures comply with the following basic guidelines:
Account holders are required to possess a valid DOT email
address to use the system.
All reasonable accommodation requests are protected
through a Secure Socket Layer connection.
Data fields containing the First Name, Last Name, Phone
Number, and Email address of the requestor are encrypted in the
database.
Minimum length of passwords is eight characters.
Passwords must be a combination of letters and numbers.
RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
Records related to specific individuals are to be maintained for
the duration of employment. Aggregate data used to track the agency's
performance are to be maintained for five years.
SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
Christy Compton, Disability Program Manager, Departmental Office of
Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
Individuals or business entities wishing to know if their records
appear in this system should direct their requests to the System
Manager identified above.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
Individuals seeking access to information about them in this system
should follow the same procedure as indicated under ``Notification
Procedure.''
CONTESTING RECORDS PROCEDURE:
Individuals seeking to contest the content of information about
them in this system should follow the same
[[Page 46639]]
procedure as indicated under ``Notification Procedure.''
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Information relating to the accommodation process will be supplied
by the individual requesting accommodation(s), the individual's
supervisor, and occasionally the modal OATS Administrator.
EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THIS SYSTEM:
None.
Dated: September 3, 2009.
Habib Azarsina,
Departmental Privacy Officer.
[FR Doc. E9-21804 Filed 9-9-09; 8:45 am]
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