[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 120 (Thursday, June 20, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31562-31564]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-15779]
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POSTAL SERVICE
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
AGENCY: Postal Service.
ACTION: Notice of modifications to an existing system of records.
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SUMMARY: This document publishes notice of modifications to Privacy Act
System of Records USPS 120.070, Personnel Records-General Personnel
Folder (Official Personnel Folders and Records Related Thereto). The
proposed modifications expand the categories of records covered by the
system, add a system manager, and enhance the system description,
especially with regard to procedures for filing and retaining records.
DATES: Any interested party may submit written comments on the proposed
modifications. This proposal will become effective without further
notice on July 30, 1996, unless comments received on or before that
date result in a contrary determination.
ADDRESSES: Written comments on this proposal should be mailed or
delivered to Payroll Accounting and Records, United States Postal
Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room 8650, Washington, DC 20260-5243.
Copies of all written comments will be available at the above address
for public inspection and photocopying between 8 a.m. and 4:45 p.m.,
Monday through Friday.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Betty E. Sheriff, (202) 268-2608.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Privacy Act System of Records USPS 120.070,
Personnel Records-General Personnel Folder (Official Personnel Folders
and Records Related Thereto) collects information contained within
employees' official personnel folders and related information. Such
information consists of documents that reflect an employee's status,
salary, benefits, service, and career history.
This notice enhances the categories of records in the system by
including further examples of records historically covered by the
system. It expands the categories to the extent that reference copies
of discipline or adverse action records are kept for a period beyond
the copy historically kept within the official personnel folder. Such
maintenance is also reflected in a revision to the retention and
disposal segment of the system notice. Because these records are kept
within Labor Relations offices, the Vice President, Labor Relations has
been added as a System Manager.
All records within this system continue to be kept in a secured
environment. The system modifications do not alter the character of
information contained in the system or the safeguards applied in the
maintenance of that information.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(11), interested persons are invited to
submit written data, views, or arguments on this proposal. A report of
the proposed system has been sent to Congress and to the Office of
Management and Budget for their evaluation.
USPS Privacy Act system 120.070 was last published in its entirety
in the Federal Register on June 19, 1991 (56 FR 28181) and amended on
December 4, 1992 (57 FR 57515) and on November 24, 1993 (58 FR 62171).
The Postal Service proposes amending that system as shown below.
USPS 120.070
System name:
Personnel Records-General Personnel Folder (Official Personnel
Folders and Records Related Thereto), 120.070.
[[Page 31563]]
System locations:
[CHANGE TO READ] Personnel Offices of all USPS facilities; National
Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, MO; Human Resources Information
Systems, Headquarters; Information Systems Service Centers; National
Test Administration Center, Merrifield, VA; and selected contractor
sites.
Categories of individuals covered by the system:
Present and former Postal Service employees; and current employees'
children or former spouses and former employees' family members or
former spouses who qualify and apply for Federal Employees Health
Benefits coverage under Pub. Ls. 98-615 or 100-654.
Categories of records covered in the system:
[CHANGE TO READ]
1. Contents of Official Personnel Folders. These include documents
pertaining to preemployment, prior federal employment, and current
service as prescribed by Postal Service directives, including but not
limited to: applications; resumes; merit evaluations; promotions;
salary changes, and other personnel actions; letters of commendation;
records of disciplinary actions (which include letters of warning;
notices of removal, suspension, reduction in grade or pay; letters of
decision; and documents relating to these actions); health benefits,
retirement, flexible spending account, and life insurance elections.
2. Automated employee data contained within records maintained in
Official Personnel Folders (OPFs), especially from Form 50,
Notification of Personnel Action. These include social security number,
date of birth; mailing address; occupation title; OPF location; duty
station; employment status; level of education; prior employment;
leave, retirement, and anniversary dates; tax, retirement, salary, and
military service information. Some of this information is part of USPS
050.020, Finance Records-Payroll System.
3. Reference copies of all discipline or adverse actions. These
include letters of warning; notices of removal, suspension, reduction
in grade or pay; letters of decisions; and documents relating to these
actions. These are used only to refute inaccurate statements by
witnesses before a judicial or administrative body.
Note: This system also has an automated tracking system that is
used primarily to control and document disciplinary actions and to
provide statistical information.
Authority for maintenance of the system:
39 U.S.C. 1001, 1005; 42 U.S.C. 2000e-16; Executive Orders 11478
and 11590.
Purpose:
Used by administrators, managers, selection review committees, and
individual employee supervisors to perform routine personnel functions.
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
General routine use statements a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, j, k, l, and
m listed in the prefatory statement at the beginning of the Postal
Service's published system notices apply to this system. Other routine
uses are as follows:
1. To disclose to prospective employers the following information
about a specifically identified current or former postal employee: (a)
grade, (b) duty status, (c) length of service, (d) job title, (e)
salary, and (f) date and reason for separation, limited to one of the
following terms: retired, resigned, or separated.
2. To provide statistical reports to Congress, agencies, and the
public on characteristics of the Postal Service work force.
3. To provide data for the compilation of a local seniority list
that is used by management to make decisions pertaining to appointment
and assignments among craft personnel. The list is posted in local
facilities where it may be reviewed by Postal Service employees.
4. To transfer to the Office of Personnel Management on retirement
of an employee information necessary for processing retirement
benefits.
5. Disclosure of relevant and necessary information pertaining to
an employee's participation in health, life insurance, and retirement
programs may be made to the Office of Personnel Management and private
carriers for the provision of related benefits to the participant (also
see USPS 050.020).
6. Disclosure of minority designation codes may be made to the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the oversight and
enforcement of federal EEO regulations.
7. Disclosure of records of discipline relating to individual
employees may be made to State Employment Security Agencies at the
initial determination level of the unemployment compensation claim
process.
8. Information pertaining to an employee who is a retired military
officer will be furnished to the appropriate service finance center as
required under the provisions of the Dual Compensation Act.
9. May be disclosed to a federal or state agency, providing parent
locator services or to other authorized persons as defined by Pub. L.
93-647.
10. Records in this system are subject to review by an independent
certified public accountant during an official audit of Postal Service
finances.
Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
Paper files, preprinted forms, official personnel folders, and
magnetic tape and other computer storage devices.
Retrievability:
Employee name and location of employment and Social Security
number.
Safeguards:
Folders are maintained in locked cabinets to which only authorized
personnel have access; automated records are protected by computer
passwords and tape or disk library physical security.
Retention and disposal:
[CHANGE TO READ]
1. Official Personnel Folder (OPF) Records. Records maintained on
the right side of the OPF are considered to be permanent and are
maintained until the employee is separated. They are then sent to the
National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, MO for storage or to the
federal agency to which the individual transfers employment.
2. Temporary Records of Individual Employees. These records are
maintained on the left side of the OPF and are destroyed when two years
old, upon separation, or upon transfer of employee if the temporary
record is relevant only to the losing postal installation, whichever is
sooner.
3. Original or copies of discipline or adverse actions. These are
maintained on the left side of the OPF for up to two years or longer if
additional or more recent disciplinary action has been taken. After two
years the employee may request the disciplinary record be purged from
the OPF. Records that support a Form 50, Notification of Personnel
Action, that documents the separation of an employee for cause, or the
resignation of an employee pending charges, are considered permanent
records and are maintained on the right side of the OPF. These records
may not be purged at the request of an employee.
4. Reference copies of discipline or adverse actions. These records
are kept for historical purposes and are not to be used for decisions
about the employee.
[[Page 31564]]
The retention of these records may not exceed ten years beyond the
employee's separation date. The records are maintained longer if the
employee is rehired during the ten year period.
5. Disciplinary Tracking System Records. These are maintained until
research purposes are served, not to exceed thirty years. Destruction
is by electronic erasure.
System Manager(s) and Address:
[CHANGE TO READ]
Vice President, Human Resources, United States Postal Service, 475
L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington DC 20260-4200
Vice President, Labor Relations, United States Postal Service, 475
L'Enfant Plaza SW, Washington DC 20260-4100
Notification Procedure:
[Change to Read] Current employees wishing to gain access to
records within this system should submit requests to the facility head
where currently employed. Requests should include their name and Social
Security number. Former employees should submit requests to the
facility head where last employed. Requests should include name, Social
Security number, date of birth, name and address of office where last
employed, and the begin and end dates of postal employment. Former Post
Office Department employees having no Postal Service employment (prior
to July 1971) must submit the request to the Office of Personnel
Management (formerly the U.S. Civil Service Commission) at:
Office of Personnel Management, Compliance and Investigations Group,
1900 E Street NW, Washington DC 20415-0001
Record Access Procedures:
Requests for access must be made in accordance with the
notification procedure above and Postal Service Privacy Act regulations
regarding access to records and verification of identity under 39 CFR
266.6.
Contesting Record Procedures:
See Notification and Record Access Procedures above.
Record source categories:
[CHANGE TO READ] Individual employee, personal references, former
employers, and other Postal Service personnel records systems.
Systems exempted from certain provisions of the Act:
The Postal Service has claimed exemptions from certain provisions
of the Act for several of its other systems of records as permitted by
5 U.S.C. 552a (j) and (k). See 39 CFR 266.9. To the extent that copies
of exempted records from those other systems are incorporated into this
system, the exemptions applicable to the original primary system must
continue to apply to the incorporated records.
Stanley F. Mires,
Chief Counsel, Legislative.
[FR Doc. 96-15779 Filed 6-19-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-12-P