[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 174 (Thursday, September 10, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46637-46639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-21804]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary


Departmental Office of Civil Rights; Privacy Act of 1974; System 
of Records Notice (SORN)

AGENCY: Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice to establish a system of records.

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SUMMARY: DOT intends to establish a system of records under the Privacy 
Act of 1974 to facilitate the provision of reasonable accommodations to 
individuals with disabilities by establishing procedures, timeframes 
and forms for supervisors/decision makers to use in processing requests 
from employees and applicants for employment, called the On-line 
Accommodation Tracking System (OATS). The system enhances compliance 
with Executive Order 13164, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
(EEOC) guidance, and DOT Order 1011.1 ``Procedures for Processing 
Reasonable Accommodation Requests by DOT Job Applicants and Employees 
with Disabilities.'' DOT is required to collect information on 
accommodation requests and report annually whether requested 
accommodations were provided or denied within the allowable time frame 
established by agency procedures (a maximum of 25 business days for 
DOT).
    The system was created to capture the required information. The 
system will assist supervisors/decision makers in ensuring that a 
decision to grant or deny is made timely and if granted, that the 
accommodation is provided within the time frame allowed, and will allow 
timeliness to be monitored by a designated OATS Administrator in each 
DOT organization.
    The system of records is more thoroughly detailed below and in a 
Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) that DOT will post on the DOT Privacy 
Web site at www.dot.gov/privacy.

DATES: Comments are due October 20, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: Christy Compton, Disability Program 
Manager, Departmental Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590; or 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For privacy issues please contact: 
Habib Azarsina, Departmental Privacy Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, 202-366-1965; or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. The Privacy Act

    The Privacy Act (5 USC 552a) governs the means by which the United 
States Government collects, maintains, and uses Personally Identifiable 
Information (PII) in a system of records. A ``system of records'' is a 
group of any records under the control of a Federal agency from which 
information about individuals is retrieved by name or other personal 
identifier.
    The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish in the Federal 
Register a notice in accordance with the System of Record Notice (SORN) 
which requires identifying and describing each system of records the 
agency maintains, including the purposes for which the agency uses PII 
in the system, the routine uses for which the agency discloses such 
information outside the agency, and how individuals can exercise their 
rights under the Privacy Act (e.g., to determine if the system contains 
information about them).

II. Privacy Impact Assessment

    DOT has prepared a PIA to coincide with this SORN. It will be 
posted on the DOT Privacy Web site at http://www.dot.gov/privacy.
    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), a report on the establishment 
of this new system of records has been sent to Congress and to the 
Office of Management and Budget.
SYSTEM NUMBER:
    DOT/ALL 20

SYSTEM NAME:
    On-line Accommodation Tracking System (OATS)

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Sensitive, unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    Servers: The Servers hosting OATS are maintained in a secure 
government facility in Frederick, MD, which is staffed 24 hours a day, 
7 days a week.
    Portals: Supervisors, modal OATS administrators, and the 
Departmental Office of Civil Rights' system manager

[[Page 46638]]

may access the system via desktop computers that are in the secure DOT 
computer network.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Employees and applicants who request reasonable accommodation for a 
disability.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    Once a request for accommodation is received by a supervisor/
decision maker, the supervisor/decision maker enters the request, 
including the date it is received, the name of the individual making 
the request, the type of request made, and other relevant information 
into OATS.
    PII in the system consists of: employee's or applicant's name, 
functional limitation caused by the disability, reasonable 
accommodation (RA) requested, explanation of how RA would assist the 
applicant in the application process or the employee in performing his/
her job or receiving the benefits and privileges of employment, dates 
when the required interactive discussions were held, notes from 
discussion regarding the request, action by deciding official, whether 
medical documentation was sought, justification for requesting medical 
documentation, any sources of technical assistance that were consulted, 
and if the request was denied, the reason for denial (but not medical 
documentation, which will be kept in a separate file).
    Non-PII in the system includes: The employee's or applicant's 
occupational series and grade or pay equivalent, operating 
administration, division or office, position title, office location and 
address and office telephone number; and the deciding official's name, 
title and office telephone number.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 791; 
Executive Order 13164.

PURPOSE(S):
    The purpose for which the system collects information is to 
implement government-wide requirements and uniform DOT procedures to 
track and monitor reasonable accommodation requests. The system makes 
data available to DOT personnel involved in processing and monitoring 
reasonable accommodation requests. The system of records will serve as 
the agency's record of the administrative events pertaining to the 
approval or disapproval of each requested accommodation and will 
provide aggregate data on the number and type of requests and timelines 
for approving or disapproving the requests.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    These records, and the information in these records, may be 
disclosed outside of DOT as follows:
    (1) 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.
    (2) To an authorized appeal grievance examiner, formal complaints 
examiner, administrative judge, equal employment opportunity 
investigator, arbitrator or other duly authorized official engaged in 
investigation or settlement of a grievance, complaint, or appeal filed 
by an employee.
    (3) To another Federal agency, to a court, or a party in litigation 
before a court or in an administrative proceeding being conducted by a 
Federal agency when the Government is a party to the judicial or 
administrative hearing.
    Other possible routine uses of the information, applicable to all 
DOT systems, are published in the Federal Register at 65 FR 19476 
(April 11, 2000), under ``Prefatory Statement of General Routine Uses'' 
(available at http://www.dot.gov/privacy/privacyactnotices/).

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
    None.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Data files are maintained on servers in a secure government 
facility located in Frederick, MD 21703, staffed twenty-four hours per 
day, seven days a week.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records are retrieved by the date of the reasonable accommodation 
request, the name of the deciding official, the name of the employee or 
employment applicant's name, record number, and operating 
administration or office.

SAFEGUARDS:
    Designated, approved Federal employees have access to this system 
according to job roles and responsibilities for use in their respective 
jobs. These employees are fully aware of the need to keep the 
information confidential and already have duties in the area of 
reasonable accommodation. Each supervisor can see only the records that 
s/he entered.
    All IT support staff and contractors are briefed on IT security 
requirements and associated responsibilities.
    Access to the system is controlled by user credentials maintained 
in a secure database.
    All personally identifiable information maintained in the system is 
encrypted via availability, economics, and solutions technology. The 
system uses Secure Socket Layer to ensure secure data transmission over 
the internet. Access to records in OATS is limited to specific DOT 
personnel. Electronic access to PII is limited according to job 
function. DOT controls access privileges according to a documented 
roles matrix, with each individual receiving the minimum necessary 
access to PII and permissions. In addition, access to PII requires 
access to a secure site with complex password requirements. Password 
and account procedures comply with the following basic guidelines:
     Account holders are required to possess a valid DOT email 
address to use the system.
     All reasonable accommodation requests are protected 
through a Secure Socket Layer connection.
     Data fields containing the First Name, Last Name, Phone 
Number, and Email address of the requestor are encrypted in the 
database.
     Minimum length of passwords is eight characters.
     Passwords must be a combination of letters and numbers.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Records related to specific individuals are to be maintained for 
the duration of employment. Aggregate data used to track the agency's 
performance are to be maintained for five years.

SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
    Christy Compton, Disability Program Manager, Departmental Office of 
Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    Individuals or business entities wishing to know if their records 
appear in this system should direct their requests to the System 
Manager identified above.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
    Individuals seeking access to information about them in this system 
should follow the same procedure as indicated under ``Notification 
Procedure.''

CONTESTING RECORDS PROCEDURE:
    Individuals seeking to contest the content of information about 
them in this system should follow the same

[[Page 46639]]

procedure as indicated under ``Notification Procedure.''

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information relating to the accommodation process will be supplied 
by the individual requesting accommodation(s), the individual's 
supervisor, and occasionally the modal OATS Administrator.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THIS SYSTEM:
    None.

    Dated: September 3, 2009.
Habib Azarsina,
Departmental Privacy Officer.
[FR Doc. E9-21804 Filed 9-9-09; 8:45 am]
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