[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