[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 240 (Thursday, December 14, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75277-75278]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-9681]


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MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection

AGENCY: Merit Systems Protection Board.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.), this notice announces that the Merit Systems Protection Board 
(MSPB or the Board) is forwarding the following proposed information 
collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval: 
MSPB Form 185, a revised paper Appeal Form; and e-Appeal, an electronic 
application for filing an appeal with the Board.

DATES: Please submit comments on or before January 26, 2007.

[[Page 75278]]


ADDRESSES: Comments concerning the paperwork burden should be addressed 
to the office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for MSPB, 725 17th 
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20503, with a copy to Timothy Korb, Merit 
Systems Protection Board, 1615 M Street, NW., Washington, DC 20419 (or 
by e-mail to [email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 21, 2006, the Board published 
in the Federal Register (71 FR 55221) a notice of its intent to submit 
this proposed information request to OMB for approval, noting that the 
MSPB intends to make one substantive change to the information 
collected on the MSPB Appeal Form in both its paper and electronic 
formats: Individuals who file appeals with the MSPB will be required to 
provide the last four digits of their Social Security numbers. In 
addition, several minor edits are being made to the Appeal Form to make 
the process easier to understand.
    The reason for requiring the last four digits of appellants' Social 
Security numbers is to ascertain whether an appellant has filed 
previous appeals with the MSPB that may affect the processing of the 
new appeal. Because of the similarity of names and the possibility of 
name changes, and because appellants sometimes use nicknames instead of 
formal names, it can be difficult to determine whether the person who 
has filed a new appeal is the same person who filed one or more 
previous Board appeals. Although requiring the last four digits of the 
appellant's Social Security number will not result in certainty as to 
the filer's identity, it will give the MSPB more assurance in this 
regard. The Board stated that it will carefully safeguard the last four 
digits of Social Security numbers provided by appellants in MSPB 
proceedings, and that this information would not generally be disclosed 
to third parties.
    The Board received one comment regarding the substantive change to 
the appeal form, which raised a concern about protecting the privacy of 
appellants: ``The last four digits of the SSN, in combination with any 
other amount of personal information about the appellant, the complete 
SSN can be determined.'' We appreciate and share the concern about 
protecting appellants' privacy, but our investigation failed to 
disclose a method for accurately determining a person's complete Social 
Security number having only knowledge of the last four digits (plus 
some other personal information). More importantly, as stated in our 
earlier Federal Register notice, the MSPB will not be disclosing these 
four-digit numbers to persons outside the agency. These numbers, along 
with other personal identifiable information, would be redacted before 
releasing copies of Board records to persons making requests under the 
Freedom of Information Act or the Privacy Act.
    Estimated Reporting Burden: As stated in 60-day notice, the public 
reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to 
vary from 20 minutes to 4 hours, with an average of 60 minutes per 
response, including time for reviewing the form and instructions, 
searching existing data sources, gathering the data necessary, and 
completing and reviewing the collection of information.

                                                            Estimated Annual Reporting Burden
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                                                            Annual number of    Frequency per       Total annual        Hours per
                       5 CFR parts                            respondents          response           reponse            response         Total hours
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1201, 1208, and 1209.....................................             7,150                  1              7,150                1.0              7,150
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Bentley M. Roberts, Jr.,
Clerk of the Board.
[FR Doc. 06-9681 Filed 12-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7401-01-M