[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 11, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11936-11938]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-6171]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release Nos. PA-24; File No. S7-6-98]


Privacy Act of 1974: Major Alterations to the Pay and Leave 
System (SEC-15) and the Office of Inspector General Investigative Files 
(SEC-43)

AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission.

ACTION: Notice of major alterations.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 
1974, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Securities and Exchange Commission 
gives notice of major alterations to the Pay and Leave System (SEC-15) 
by adding, among other things, three new routine uses; and the Office 
of Inspector General Investigative Files (SEC-43) by adding nine new 
routine uses. Amendments to these systems were last published at 62 FR 
47884 and 47885, September 11, 1997.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than April 10, 1998. The 
changes to these systems of records will take effect April 20, 1998, 
unless the Commission receives comments which would result in a 
contrary determination.

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to submit comments should file three (3) 
copies thereof with Jonathan G. Katz, Secretary, Securities and 
Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549. 
Reference should be made to File No. S7-6-98. Copies of the comments 
will be available for public inspection and copying at the Commission's 
Public Reference Branch, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Hannah R. Hall, Privacy Act Officer, 
(202) 942-4320, Office of Filings and Information Services, Freedom of 
Information Act and Privacy Act Operations, Securities and Exchange 
Commission, Operations Center, 6432 General Green Way, Mail Stop O-5, 
Alexandria, VA 22312-2413.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 
is republishing the Pay and Leave System (SEC-15) with major 
alterations, including three new routine uses for the system, numbered 
10, 11, and 12. This system of records is subject to the Privacy Act of 
1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a.
    Pursuant to the provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work 
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-193) 
(``Reconciliation Act''), the SEC will disclose data from SEC-15 to the 
Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for Children and 
Families, Department of Health and Human Services for use in the 
Federal Parent Locator System (FPLS) and the Federal Tax Offset System.
    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. Effective October 1, 1997, the FPLS was 
expanded to include the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), a 
database containing information on employees commencing employment, 
quarterly wage data on

[[Page 11937]]

private and public sector employees, and information on unemployment 
compensation benefits. The Reconciliation Act requires that all federal 
agencies transmit the applicable quarterly wage data to the NDNH by 
January 31, 1998. Effective October 1, 1998, the FPLS will be expanded 
to include a Federal Case Registry that 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 NDNH to determine if an employee 
is a participant in a child support case anywhere in the United States. 
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.
    The data from SEC-15 to be disclosed by the SEC to the FPLS 
include: the employer's name and address, and the employee's name, 
addresses, social security number, date of birth, date of hire, and 
quarterly wages.1 In turn, this data will be disclosed by 
the Office of Child Support Enforcement to the Secretary of the 
Treasury to verify claims for the advance payment of the earned income 
tax credit or to verify a claim of employment on a tax return. In 
addition, names and social security numbers submitted by the SEC 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.
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    \1\ To the extent that any of the data elements, such as the 
employee's addresses, date of birth, and date of hire, is needed 
from the Central Personnel Data File, which comprises the 
Commission's personnel files, the routine uses for this system of 
records are published in a government-wide system of records notice 
(OPM/GOVT-1).
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    Additional changes proposed for SEC-15 include setting forth the 
purpose for the system and designating the existing routine uses by 
adding numbers 1 through 9 to the currently unnumbered paragraphs.
    Further, the SEC is revising the Office of Inspector General 
Investigative Files (SEC-43) to add nine new routines uses, numbered 10 
through 18. These new routine uses will assist the Office of Inspector 
General in carrying out its statutory mission of preventing, detecting, 
and reporting instances of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in 
SEC programs and operations.
    The altered system of records reports, as required by 5 U.S.C. 
552a(r) of the Privacy Act, have been submitted to the Committee on 
Government Operations of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
Government Affairs of the Senate, and the Office of Management and 
Budget, pursuant to Appendix I to OMB Circular A-130, ``Federal Agency 
Responsibilities for Maintaining Records About Individuals,'' as 
amended on February 8, 1996.
    SEC-15 is revised as follows:
SEC-15

System name:
    Pay and Leave System-SEC.

System location:
    Securities and Exchange Commission, Operations Center, 6432 General 
Green Way, Mail Stop O-3, Alexandria, VA 22312-2413.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Records are maintained on all individuals employed by the SEC in 
the prior and current calendar year.

Categories of records in the system:
    Payroll, leave, attendance, and historical records on magnetic tape 
or disc, card, microfiche, printout and other miscellaneous forms 
(i.e., W-4, retirement card).

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    5 U.S.C. app. 21-89.

Purpose(s):
    These records are used to administer the pay and leave requirements 
of the Commission. These records may also be used to locate individuals 
for personnel research.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:
    These records and the information contained in these records may be 
used as follows:
    1. To transmit any lawful compensation to an employee for time 
employed and/or special awards and allowances earned in the performance 
of official duties.
    2. To compile tax withholding, retirement contributions and other 
types of deductions for transmission to designated authorized 
recipients (e.g., charity, unions, etc.), other Federal agencies (i.e., 
IRS, OPM, Treasury, etc.), State, or local taxing authorities.
    3. To provide certain agencies (i.e., OMB, GAO) documents in 
substantiation of agency expenditures for salaries and personnel 
benefits by an individual and/or by an Office within the Commission.
    4. As a data source for management information for production of 
summary descriptive statistics and analytical studies in support of the 
function for which the records are collected and maintained or for 
related financial or personnel management functions or manpower 
studies; may also be utilized to respond to general requests for 
statistical information (without personal identification of 
individuals) under the Freedom of Information Act or to locate specific 
individuals for financial or personnel research or related management 
functions.
    5. Disclosure may be made to a congressional office from the record 
of an individual in response to an inquiry from the congressional 
office made at the request of that individual.
    6. The information contained in this system of records will be 
disclosed to the Office of Management and Budget in connection with the 
review of private relief legislation as set forth in OMB Circular A-19 
at any stage of the legislative coordination and clearance process as 
set forth in that circular.
    7. To the Defense Manpower Data Center, Department of Defense, and 
to the U.S. Postal Service to conduct manual or computer matching 
programs for the purpose of identifying and locating payments and those 
debtors delinquent in their repayment of debts owed to the U.S. 
Government under certain programs administered by the Commission in 
order to collect the debts under the provisions of the Debt Collection 
Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365) and the Cash Management Improvement Act 
Amendment (31 U.S.C. 3711, 3718) by voluntary repayment, or by 
administrative salary offset procedures.
    8. To any other Federal agency for the purpose of effecting 
administrative or salary offset procedures against a person employed by 
that agency or receiving or eligible to receive some benefit payments 
from the agency when the Commission as creditor has a claim against 
that person.
    9. To collection reporting agencies and credit bureaus for the 
purpose of disclosing or collecting payments from debtors. Disclosure 
of information about persons who are receiving Federal salaries or 
benefit payments and are delinquent in their repayment of debts owed to 
the U.S. Government under certain programs administered by the 
Commission may be made to other Federal agencies, but only to the 
extent of determining whether the person is employed by that agency 
and, if so, effecting administrative or salary offset procedures 
against the person.
    10. To the Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for 
Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, Federal 
Parent Locator System (FPLS) and the Federal Tax Offset System for use 
in

[[Page 11938]]

locating individuals and identifying their income sources to establish 
paternity, to establish and modify orders of support, and for 
enforcement action.
    11. To the Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for 
Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, for 
release to the Social Security Administration for verifying social 
security numbers in connection with the operation of the FPLS by the 
Office of Child Support Enforcement.
    12. To the Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for 
Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, for 
release to the Department of Treasury for purposes of administering the 
Earned Income Tax Credit Program (Section 32, Internal Revenue Code of 
1986) and verifying a claim with respect to employment in a tax return.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
    Appropriate data is stored on electronic and paper records.

Retrievability:
    These records are indexed for individuals in alphabetical sequence 
by name or in numerical order by their social security numbers.

Safeguards:
    Only authorized SEC personnel and certain governmental agencies, 
approved by law, are granted access to any of these records.

Retention and disposal:
    These records are maintained and disposed of pursuant to the 
regulations imposed by General Services Administration, General Records 
Schedule 2 and 20.

System manager(s) and address:
    Associate Executive Director (Finance), Office of the Comptroller, 
Securities and Exchange Commission, Operations Center, 6432 General 
Green Way, Mail Stop 0-3, Alexandria, VA 22312-2413.

Notification procedure:
    All requests to determine whether this system of records contains a 
record pertaining to the requesting individual may be directed to the 
Privacy Act Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, Operations 
Center, 6432 General Green Way, Mail Stop 0-5, Alexandria, VA 22312-
2413.

Record access procedures:
    Persons wishing to obtain information on the procedures for gaining 
access to or contesting the contents of these records may contact or 
address their inquiries to the Privacy Act Officer, Securities and 
Exchange Commission, Operations Center, 6432 General Green Way, Mail 
Stop 0-5, Alexandria, VA 22312-2413.

Contesting record procedures:
    See Record access procedures above.

Record source categories:
    The sources for the records are personnel action forms, electronic 
time and attendance records, withholding certificates, and other 
related documents submitted by employees or the Office of Personnel and 
Administrative Management.
    SEC-43 is amended as follows:
    Paragraphs 10 through 18 are added to this section to read as 
follows:

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purpose of such uses:
* * * * *
    10. To inform complainants, victims, and witnesses of the results 
of an investigation.
    11. To qualified individuals or organizations in connection with 
the performance of a peer review or other study of the Office of 
Inspector General's audit or investigative functions.
    12. To private firms of individuals with which the Office of 
Inspector General has contracted to provide support for investigations 
or other inquiries. These private firms and individuals will be 
required to maintain Privacy Act safeguards with respect to such 
records.
    13. To a Federal agency responsible for considering debarment or 
suspension action if the record would be relevant to such action.
    14. To the Department of Justice for the purpose of obtaining its 
advice on Freedom of Information Act matters.
    15. To the Office of Management and Budget for the purpose of 
obtaining its advice on Privacy Act matters.
    16. To a public or professional licensing organization if the 
record indicates, either by itself or in combination with other 
information, a violation or potential violation of professional 
standards, or reflects on the moral, educational, or professional 
qualifications of an individual who is licensed or who is seeking to 
become licensed.
    17. To the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to comply with agency 
reporting requirements established by OGE in 5 CFR part 2638, subpart 
F.
    18. To the news media and the public when there exists a legitimate 
public interest (e.g., to provide information on events in the criminal 
process, such as an indictment).

    By the Commission.

    Dated: March 5, 1998.
Jonathan G. Katz,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-6171 Filed 3-10-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8410-01-P