[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 130 (Monday, July 9, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37217-37220]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-13205]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8337-4; EPA-HQ-OARM-2007-0166]


Amendment of System Records Notice for the PeoplePlus

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of an Amendment of an existing System of Records Notice 
for the PeoplePlus.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 
U.S.C. 552a), the Office of Administration and Resources Management 
(OARM) is giving notice that it proposes to AMEND AN EXISTING SYSTEM OF 
RECORDS for EPA-1 PeoplePlus. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 
or Agency) is amending a Privacy Act system of records to reflect the 
agency's collection of employee data determined to be privacy and or 
personally identifiable information (PII). In previous amendments the 
Human Capital Management (HCM) function of PeoplePlus was always the 
underlying source of employee information when providing Benefits, 
Payroll, and Time and Labor processing. The data collected includes, 
but is not limited to, contents of employee information in the Official 
Personnel Folder (OPF) as specified in the Office of Personnel 
Management (OPM) Operating Manual, ``The Guide to Personnel 
Recordkeeping,'' but never to this level of detail. Further, the 
system's name is changing from ``PeoplePlus Payroll, Time and Labor 
Application'' to ``PeoplePlus'' because the name included functions of 
PeoplePlus which changed recently with the e-Payrolls initiative. This 
notice does not affect any Privacy Act rights already accorded 
individuals who are subject of Agency

[[Page 37218]]

personnel and payroll records. PeoplePlus will not change the nature of 
the records currently kept by EPA. This action simply gives notice of 
the additional HCM, and employee information collected, and to notify 
the public of the routine uses for PeoplePlus. These records are 
maintained in PeoplePlus to administer EPA's pay and leave 
requirements, including processing, accounting, and reporting 
requirements. They also provide the basic source of factual data about 
a person's Federal employment while in the service and after his or her 
separation. Records in PeoplePlus have various uses by Agency personnel 
offices, including screening qualifications of employees; determining 
status, eligibility, and employee's rights and benefits under pertinent 
laws and regulations governing Federal employment; computing length of 
service; and other information needed to provide personnel services. 
These records and their automated or microform equivalents may also be 
used to locate individuals for personnel research.

DATES: Persons wishing to comment on this system of records notice may 
do so by August 20, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OARM-2007-0166, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the online instructions 
for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-566-1752.
     Mail: OEI Docket, Environmental Protection Agency, 
Mailcode: 2822T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: OEI Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West Building, Room 
B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. Such deliveries are 
only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and 
special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed 
information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OARM-
2007-0166. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information for which 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov. 
The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system, 
which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information 
unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-
mail comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov 
your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part 
of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available 
on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends 
that you include your name and other contact information in the body of 
your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read 
your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic 
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of 
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional 
information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center 
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
for which disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, 
such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard 
copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either 
electronically in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the OEI 
Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West Building, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., 
NW., Washington, DC. The 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 Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the OEI Docket is (202) 566-1752.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bobby Moore, Office of Human 
Resources, Office of Administration and Resources Management, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., M/C 
3603M, Washington, DC 20460, telephone (202) 564-7542.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

    The EPA-1 PeoplePlus (PPL) system of records does not duplicate any 
existing system of records. Details regarding the amended system of 
records are contained in this Federal Register Notice. PeoplePlus is 
EPA's integrated Human Resources, Benefits, and Time and Labor 
Management System. PPL is an enterprise application that provides 
multiple functionalities for human resources and base benefits as well 
as on-line entry for time and labor data. The Human Capital Management 
(HCM) function of PeoplePlus was designed to support personnel 
operations, feed payroll systems, time and labor and meet managers', 
human resources (HR) specialists', and employees' needs for information 
necessary to manage day-to-day operations. These records are not a 
substitute for the official, permanent documentation that constitutes 
the Official Personnel Folder (OPF). The data collected includes, but 
is not limited to, contents of employee information in the OPF as 
specified in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Operating Manual, 
``The Guide to Personnel Recordkeeping.'' Much of the Standard Form 52 
``Request for Personnel Action'' and Standard Form 50 ``Notification of 
Personnel Action'', information is collected to meet Government-wide 
human resource information needs. Civilian personnel records are 
records that relate to the supervision over and management of Federal 
civilian employees. These include records on the general administration 
and operation of human resource management programs and functions as 
well as records that concern individual employees. This information is 
reported to the Central Personnel Data File (CPDF), OPM's centralized, 
automated information system that provides statistics on Executive 
Branch employment to the Congress and other agencies. This information 
is used in a variety of ways to evaluate and formulate human resource 
systems and programs. Privacy in PeoplePlus is protected by restricting 
access to authorized users with appropriate roles and permissions. 
Privacy data is access and managed by the Human Resources Specialist 
with these secured roles. PeoplePlus is access by EPA employees for 
time entry and those who provide functional duties within the system. 
Employees access PeoplePlus using a secure Web site within the Agency's 
firewall. Employees must use their unique Network ID and secure 
Password to gain access. PeoplePlus is managed and maintained by both 
the Office of Administration and Resources Management (OARM) and the 
Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO). EPA's Central Client 
Server System (CCSS) is the general support system which services and 
supports the PeoplePlus major application. CCSS is located at Research

[[Page 37219]]

Triangle Park, N.C. within the National Computer Center (NCC), in the 
Office of Environmental Information (OEI).

    Dated: June 4, 2007.
Molly A. O'Neill,
Assistant Administrator and Chief Information Officer.
EPA-1

System Name:
    PeoplePlus.

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.

Categories of Records Covered by the System:
    This system contains general human resources elements, basic 
benefits pay and leave records. This includes, but is not limited to, 
employee identification and employment status data such as: Name(s), 
records that establish an individual's identity, social security 
number, date of birth, sex, race and national origin, disability, home 
and mailing addresses, home telephone numbers and telephone numbers for 
emergency contacts, type of appointment, education, training courses 
attended, veteran preference, military service, service computation for 
leave, date of probationary and trial period began, date of and the 
annual performance rating, date of and amount of individual cash, time 
off, rating based, and suggestion, patents and invention awards, date 
of and amount of group cash, time off, and suggestion, patents, and 
inventions awards, grievances and adverse actions for performance based 
reductions in grade and removal actions, and terminations of 
probationers, date of within-grade increases, Intergovernmental 
Personnel Act records, union bus codes, employing organization codes, 
salary, pay plan, grade, step, adjudication of a position 
classification and appeal, retained grade or pay appeal, or Fair Labor 
Standards Act (FLSA) claim complaints, forms and reports completed 
during employment as a condition of employment, records and pertaining 
and resulting from the testing of the employee for use of illegal 
drugs, reports of on-the-job injuries and medical records, forms, and 
reports generated as a result of the filing of a Workers' Compensation, 
number of hours worked, overtime, compensatory time, leave accrual 
rate, leave usage and balances, Thrift Saving Plans (TSP), TSP loans, 
Civil Service Retirement and Federal Employees Retirement System 
contributions, Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) withholdings, 
Federal, State, and city tax withholdings, Federal Employee Group Life 
Insurance withholdings, Federal Long-Term Care Insurance, 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, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), child care 
subsidy, time compliance technical orders (TCTO), Physicians 
Comparability Allowances (PCA), uniform allowances, non-foreign cost-
of-living allowances, Within Grade Increase, Quality Step Increase, 
student loan repayment program, recruitment, relocation, and retention 
incentives, extended assignment incentives, supervisory differentials, 
post differentials, night pay differential, Sunday premium pay, law 
enforcement availability pay, administratively uncontrollable overtime 
pay, regularly scheduled standby duty pay, evacuation payment, 
hazardous duty.

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); 5 U.S.C. 6362; 5 U.S.C. 6311.

Purpose(s):
    These records are maintained in PeoplePlus to administer EPA's pay 
and leave requirements, including processing, accounting and reporting 
requirements. They also provide the basic source of factual data about 
a person's Federal employment while in the service and after his or her 
separation. Records in PeoplePlus have various uses by Agency personnel 
offices, including screening qualifications of employees; determining 
status, eligibility, and employee's rights and benefits under pertinent 
laws and regulations governing Federal employment; computing length of 
service; and other information needed to provide personnel services. 
These records and their automated equivalents 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:
    A. To the Department of the 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 and tax levies.
    E. To the 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 Social Security Administration and the Department of 
Health and Human Services to provide information on newly hired 
employees for child support enforcement purposes.
    M. To the Department of Health and Human Services in connection 
with the master personnel and payroll files for their Public Health 
Service Officers.
    N. To the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to provide payroll 
processing services.

[[Page 37220]]

    O. To the Federal Retirement Benefit Contractors to enable 
employees to receive retirement benefit calculations.
    P. To disclose information to Government training facilities 
(Federal, State, and local) in review of OPM's Go Learn eGov initiative 
as part of EHRI.
    Q. To disclose information to Office of Civil Rights (OCR) for 
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) when requested in 
connection with investigations of alleged or possible discrimination 
practices in the Federal Sector, and in response to its request for use 
in the conduct of an examination of an agency's compliance with 
affirmative action plan instructions and the Uniform Guidelines on 
Employee Selection Procedures (1978).

EPA's General Routine Uses:
    A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, and K apply to this system.

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 are maintained at 
a disaster recovery site. Data is on CD and fiche--only after it rolls 
off line in DCPS for use within the PROs to do research. There are 
actual history tapes kept in the storage facility for the 56 years.
     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 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 is in accordance with applicable EPA Records Schedules 
161 and 553 as 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:
    Director, Office of Human Resources, Office of Administration and 
Resources Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., (MC 3601ARN), Washington, DC 20460 and 
Director, Office of Financial Services, Office of the Chief Financial 
Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW., (MC 2734R), Washington, DC 20460.

Notification Procedures:
    Individuals who want to know whether this system of records 
contains information about them or who want to access, amend or correct 
their records, should make a written request to the EPA Privacy Act 
Officer, Freedom of Information Office, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., (MC 2822T), Washington, DC 20460 
or by facsimile to (202) 566-2149. Individuals must furnish the 
following information for their records to be located and identified:
    A. Full name.
    B. A statement that the request relates to the PeoplePlus system of 
records.
    C. A statement indicating the reason for the request (i.e., access, 
amendment or correction) and whether a personal inspection of the 
records or a copy of them by mail is desired.
    D. Signature.
    These requirements and related provisions are set forth in EPA's 
Privacy Act regulations, 40 CFR Part 16, as amended (2006), which are 
available on the Agency's Privacy Act Web site at http://www.epa.gov/privacy/laws/index.htm.

Record Access Procedure:
    Individuals wishing to request access to their records should 
follow the Notification Procedures. Individuals requesting access are 
also required to provide adequate identification, such as a driver's 
license, employee identification card, social security card, credit 
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 the Record Access 
Procedures and also identify the record or information to be changed, 
giving specific reasons for the change. Complete EPA Privacy Act 
procedures are set out in 40 CFR part 16, as amended (2006).

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 the Treasury, and other Federal agencies.
    D. Federal Retirement Benefit contractors.
    E. Leave Bank.

System Exempted from Certain Provisions of the Act:
    None.
[FR Doc. E7-13205 Filed 7-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P