[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 197 (Friday, October 10, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58670-58672]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-25807]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7572-3; OEI-2003-0034]


Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of System of Records

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice; amendment to Notice of Privacy Act System of Records 
EPA-1.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is 
amending a Privacy Act system of records to reflect the agency's 
migration from its legacy Payroll and Personnel System (EPAYS) to 
PeoplePlus, a modern, commercial off the shelf system. PeoplePlus 
allows the agency to fully integrate its payroll and HR systems and 
supports the government-wide initiative led by the Office of Personnel 
Management (OPM) to consolidate executive branch payroll providers. 
This advance in technology paves the way for EPA to become a payroll 
customer of USDA's National Finance Center at the start of FY2005.
    The PeoplePlus system consists of two separate applications. One 
application will perform HR functions, and the other will perform 
payroll, and time and labor functions. The records and routine uses of 
the information in the HR application remain covered by a government-
wide notice published by OPM April 27, 2000 at 65 FR 24732. The EPA 
notice published today is a technical amendment to EPA's system of 
records to notify the public of the routine uses for the new payroll, 
time, and labor application. This notice does not affect any Privacy 
Act rights already accorded individuals who are the subject of agency 
payroll records. PeoplePlus will not change the nature of the records 
currently kept by EPA, and no new uses of information are proposed. 
This action simply gives notice that EPAYS is being replaced by 
PeoplePlus. The records are needed to administer EPA's pay and leave 
requirements, including processing, accounting and reporting 
requirements.
    Today's notice rescinds the portions of EPA's notice published in 
the Federal Register February 22, 2002, at 67 FR 8246 that pertain to 
the legacy EPAYS system.

DATES: This notice is effective October 10, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melvin Visnick, Chief, Washington 
Finance Center, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., (MC 
2734R), Washington, DC 20460, 202-564-4944.
    Additional information about implementation of the Privacy Act at 
EPA is available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/privacy/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA prepares and processes payroll for its 
employees and for employees of the Department of Transportation's 
Surface Transportation Board (STB). EPA's legacy Payroll and Personnel 
System (EPAYS) is more than 30 years old, and the Agency is replacing 
it with PeoplePlus, a modern, fully integrated human resources (HR), 
payroll, time and labor system. PeoplePlus will not be used to prepare 
and process payroll for STB.
    Replacing EPAYS is part of an overall e-government effort led by 
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to consolidate executive 
branch payroll providers and to simplify and standardize civilian 
payroll procedures across the Federal government. The e-payroll 
initiative will transform the current federal civilian payroll service 
delivery environment and realize efficiencies government-wide. 
Implementation of PeoplePlus at EPA helps establish the technical 
infrastructure for EPA to become a payroll customer of the National 
Finance Center at the start of FY 2005, supporting government-wide 
payroll consolidation through a phased approach that incorporates 
modern technology.
    The PeoplePlus system consists of two separate applications. One 
application performs HR functions, and the other performs payroll, 
time, and labor functions. The records and routine uses of the 
information in the HR application remain covered by OPM/GOVT-1, a 
government-wide notice published by OPM April 27, 2000 at 65 FR 24732. 
The EPA notice published today is a technical amendment to EPA's system 
of records to notify the public of the routine uses for the new 
payroll, time, and labor application in PeoplePlus. This notice does 
not affect any Privacy Act rights accorded individuals who are the 
subject of agency payroll records. The nature of the records kept by 
EPA remains the same, and no new uses of the information are proposed. 
This action simply gives notice that EPAYS is being replaced by the 
PeoplePlus payroll, time, and labor application. The records are needed 
to administer EPA's pay and leave requirements, including processing, 
accounting and reporting requirements.
    Today's notice rescinds the portions of EPA's notice published in 
the Federal Register February 22, 2002, at 67 FR 8246 that pertain to 
the EPA-1 system of records.

To Obtain Copies of This Document and Related Information

    EPA has established an official public docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. OEI-2003-0034. The official public docket is the 
collection of materials that is available for public viewing at the 
Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket in the EPA Docket 
Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal 
holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, 
and the telephone number for the OEI Docket is (202) 566-1752.
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may 
use EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to view public comments, 
access the index listing of the contents of the official public docket, 
and to access those documents in the public docket that are available 
electronically. Although not all docket materials may be available 
electronically, you may still access any of the publicly available 
docket materials through the docket facility identified above.
    More information on implementation of the Privacy Act at EPA is 
available at http://www.epa.gov/privacy/.


[[Page 58671]]


    Dated: October 3, 2003.
Richard D. Otis, Jr.,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Environmental Information.
EPA-1

System Name:
    PeoplePlus Payroll, Time and Labor Application.

System Location:
    National Computer Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Research 
Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711.

Categories of Individuals Covered by the System:
    Current and former EPA employees including Health and Human 
Services Public Health Service Commissioned Officers assigned to EPA 
and employees of the Surface Transportation Board (formerly the 
Interstate Commerce Commission), Department of Transportation.

Categories of Records Covered by the System:
    This system contains personnel, basic benefits, pay, cash awards, 
and leave records. This includes, but is not limited to, employee 
information such as: Name(s), date of birth, social security number, 
home and mailing addresses, grade, employing organization, salary, pay 
plan, number of hours worked, overtime, compensatory time, leave 
accrual rate, leave usage and balances, Civil Service Retirement and 
Federal Retirement System contributions, FICA withholdings, Federal, 
State, and city tax withholdings, Federal Employee Group Life Insurance 
withholdings, Federal Employee Health Benefits withholdings, charitable 
deductions, allotments to financial organizations, garnishments, 
savings bonds allotments, union dues withholdings, deductions for 
Internal Revenue Service levies, court ordered child support levies, 
Federal salary offset deductions, and information on the Leave Transfer 
Program and the Leave Bank Program.

Authority for Maintenance of the System:
    5 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.; 5 U.S.C. 5501 et seq.; 5 U.S.C. 5525 et 
seq.; 5 U.S.C. 5701 et seq.; 5 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.; 31 U.S.C. 3512; 
Executive Order 9397 (Nov. 22, 1943).

Purpose(s):
    The records are needed to administer EPA's pay and leave 
requirements, including processing, accounting and reporting 
requirements.

Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories 
of Users, and the Purposes of Such Uses:
    A. To the Department of Treasury to issue checks, make payments, 
make electronic funds transfers, and issue U.S. Savings Bonds.
    B. To the Department of Agriculture National Finance Center to 
credit Thrift Savings Plan deductions and loan payments to employee 
accounts.
    C. To the Department of Labor in connection with a claim filed by 
an employee for compensation due to a job connected injury or illness.
    D. To the Internal Revenue Service; Social Security Administration; 
and State and local tax authorities in connection with the withholding 
of employment taxes.
    E. To State Unemployment Offices in connection with a claim filed 
by former employees for unemployment benefits.
    F. To the officials of labor organizations as to the identity of 
employees contributing union dues each pay period and the amount of 
dues withheld from each employee.
    G. To the Office of Personnel Management and to Health Benefit 
carriers in connection with enrollment and payroll deductions.
    H. To the Office of Personnel Management in connection with 
employee retirement and life insurance deductions.
    I. To the Combined Federal Campaign in connection with payroll 
deductions for charitable contributions.
    J. To the Office of Management and Budget and Department of the 
Treasury to provide required reports on financial management 
responsibilities.
    K. To provide information as necessary to other Federal, State, 
local or foreign agencies conducting computer matching programs to help 
eliminate fraud and abuse and to detect unauthorized overpayments made 
to individuals. When disclosures are made as part of computer matching 
programs, EPA will comply with the Computer Matching and Privacy 
Protection Act of 1988.
    L. To the Internal Revenue Service in connection with withholdings 
for tax levies.
    M. To the Social Security Administration and the Department of 
Health and Human Services to provide information on newly hired 
employees for child support enforcement purposes.
    N. To the Department of Health and Human Services in connection 
with the master personnel and payroll files for their Public Health 
Service Officers.

General Routine Uses of EPA Systems of Records:
    A. Disclosure for Law Enforcement Purposes--Information may be 
disclosed to the appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, or foreign 
agency responsible for investigating, prosecuting, enforcing, or 
implementing a statute, rule, regulation, or order, if the information 
is relevant to a violation or potential violation of civil or criminal 
law or regulation within the jurisdiction of the receiving entity.
    B. Disclosure Incident to Requesting Information--Information may 
be disclosed to any source from which additional information is 
requested (to the extent necessary to identify the individual, inform 
the source of the purpose of the request, and to identify the type of 
information requested), when necessary to obtain information relevant 
to an agency decision concerning retention of an employee or other 
personnel action (other than hiring), retention of a security 
clearance, the letting of a contract, or the issuance or retention of a 
grant, or other benefit
    C. Disclosure to Requesting Agency--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 retention of an employee, the retention of a security clearance, 
the letting of a contract, or the issuance or retention of a license, 
grant, or other benefit. The other agency or licensing organization may 
then make a request supported by the written consent of the individual 
for the entire record if it so chooses. No disclosure will be made 
unless the information has been determined to be sufficiently reliable 
to support a referral to another office within the agency or to another 
Federal agency for criminal, civil, administrative, personnel, or 
regulatory action.
    D. Disclosure to Office of Management and Budget--Information may 
be disclosed to the Office of Management and Budget at any stage in the 
legislative coordination and clearance process in connection with 
private relief legislation as set forth in OMB Circular No. A-19.
    E. Disclosure to Congressional Offices--Information may be 
disclosed 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.
    F. Disclosure to Department of Justice--Information may be 
disclosed to the Department of Justice, or in a proceeding before a 
court, adjudicative body, or other administrative body before which the 
Agency is authorized

[[Page 58672]]

to appear, when: (1) The Agency, or any component thereof; (2) Any 
employee of the Agency in his or her official capacity; (3) Any 
employee of the Agency in his or her individual capacity where the 
Department of Justice or the Agency have agreed to represent the 
employee; or (4) The United States, if the Agency determines that 
litigation is likely to affect the Agency or any of its components, is 
a party to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and the 
use of such records by the Department of Justice or the Agency is 
deemed by the Agency to be relevant and necessary to the litigation 
provided, however, that in each case it has been determined that the 
disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which the records were 
collected.
    G. Disclosure to the National Archives--Information may be 
disclosed to the National Archives and Records Administration in 
records management inspections.
    H. Disclosure to Contractors, Grantees, and Others--Information may 
be disclosed to contractors, grantees, consultants, or volunteers 
performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative 
agreement, job, or other activity for the Agency and who have a need to 
have access to the information in the performance of their duties or 
activities for the Agency. When appropriate, recipients will be 
required to comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 as 
provided in 5 U.S.C. 552a(m).
    I. Disclosures for Administrative Claims, Complaints, and Appeals--
Information from this system of records may be disclosed to an 
authorized appeal grievance examiner, formal complaints examiner, equal 
employment opportunity investigator, arbitrator or other person 
properly engaged in investigation or settlement of an administrative 
grievance, complaint, claim, or appeal filed by an employee, but only 
to the extent that the information is relevant and necessary to the 
proceeding. Agencies that may obtain information under this routine use 
include, but are not limited to, the Office of Personnel Management, 
Office of Special Counsel, Merit Systems Protection Board, Federal 
Labor Relations Authority, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and 
Office of Government Ethics.
    J. Disclosure to the Office of Personnel Management--Information 
from this system of records may be disclosed to the Office of Personnel 
Management pursuant to that agency's responsibility for evaluation and 
oversight of Federal personnel management.
    K. Disclosure in Connection with Litigation--Information from this 
system of records may be disclosed in connection with litigation or 
settlement discussions regarding claims by or against the Agency, 
including public filing with a court, to the extent that disclosure of 
the information is relevant and necessary to the litigation or 
discussions and except where court orders are otherwise required under 
section (b)(11) of the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(11).

Policies and Practices For Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, Retaining, 
and Disposing of Records in the System:
Storage:
    These records are maintained in hard copy formats and computer 
processable storage media such as computer tapes and disks. The 
computer storage devices are located in the National Computer Center, 
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Backup tapes will be maintained 
at a disaster recovery site.

Retrievability:
    These records are retrieved by the employee identification number 
or name.

Safeguards:
    Computer records are maintained in a secure password protected 
environment. Access to computer records is limited to those who have a 
need to know. Permission level assignments will allow users access only 
to those functions for which they are authorized. Paper records are 
maintained in locked metal file cabinets. All records are maintained in 
secure, access-controlled areas or buildings.

Retention and Disposal:
    The retention of data in the system will in accordance with the 
U.S. EPA Records Schedule, as been approved by the National Archives 
and Records Administration. Employee records are retained on magnetic 
tapes for an indefinite period. Hard copy records are maintained for 
varying periods of time, at which time they are disposed of by 
shredding.

System Manager(s) and Address:
    David Bloom, Acting Director, Financial Services Division, Office 
of the Comptroller, Office of Chief Financial Officer, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., (MC 
2734R), Washington, DC 20460, 202-564-3013.

Notification Procedures:
    Individuals who want to know whether this system of records 
contains information about them, who want to access to their records, 
or who want to contest the contents of a record, should make a written 
request to the System Manager. Individuals must furnish the following 
information for their records to be located and identified:
    A. Full name.
    B. Date of birth.
    C. Social security number.
    D. Last employing organization (include duty station location) and, 
for former EPA employees, approximate date(s) of employment.
    E. Signature.

Record Access Procedure:
    Individuals wishing to request access to their records should 
follow the Notification Procedures. Individuals requesting access will 
also be required to provide adequate identification, such as a driver's 
license, employee identification card, or other identifying document. 
Additional identification procedures may be required in some instances.

Contesting Record Procedure:
    Individuals requesting correction or amendment of their records 
should follow the Notification Procedures and also identify the record 
or information to be changed. Complete EPA Privacy Act procedures are 
set out in 40 CFR part 16.

Record Source Categories:
    Information in this system of records is provided by
    A. The individual on whom the record is maintained.
    B. Agency officials such as managers and supervisors.
    C. Consumer reporting agencies, debt collection agencies, 
Department of Treasury, and other Federal agencies.

System Exempted From Certain Provisions of the Act:
    None.
[FR Doc. 03-25807 Filed 10-9-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P