[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 211 (Thursday, November 4, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60821-60822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-23804]


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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM


Agency Information Collection Activities: Announcement of Board 
Approval Under Delegated Authority and Submission to OMB

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) 
is adopting a proposal to extend for three years, with revision, FR 
27--New Hire Information Collection.

DATES: The revisions are effective December 6, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    Federal Reserve Board Clearance Officer--Nuha Elmaghrabi--Office of 
the Chief Data Officer, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, Washington, DC 20551, (202) 452-3829.
    Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Desk Officer for the Federal 
Reserve Board, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, 725 
17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503, or by fax to (202) 395-6974.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 15, 1984, OMB delegated to the Board 
authority under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) to approve and assign 
OMB control numbers to collections of information conducted or 
sponsored by the Board. Board-approved collections of information are 
incorporated into the official OMB inventory of currently approved 
collections of information. The OMB inventory, as well as copies of the 
PRA Submission, supporting statements, and approved collection of 
information instrument(s) are available at https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. These documents are also available on the Federal 
Reserve Board's public website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/apps/reportforms/review.aspx or may be requested from the agency clearance 
officer, whose name appears above.

Final Approval Under OMB Delegated Authority of the Extension for Three 
Years, With Revision, of the Following Information Collection

    Report title: New Hire Information Collection.
    Agency form number: FR 27.
    OMB control number: 7100-0375.
    Effective Date of Revisions: December 6, 2021.
    Frequency: As needed.
    Respondents: The FR 27 panel comprises individuals who are new 
hires to the Board but have not yet become employees.
    Estimated number of respondents: Regular hire: 312; intern hire: 
122; federal transfer: 10.
    Estimated average hours per response: Regular hire: 1; intern hire: 
0.75; federal transfer: 1.08.
    Estimated annual burden hours: Regular hire: 312; intern hire: 92; 
federal transfer: 11.
    General description of report: This information collection provides 
for the electronic collection of certain personnel information from new 
hires using a secure web-based portal, the ``New Hire Portal,'' before 
the first day of employment of a new hire. As part of the onboarding 
process for new hires, a Human Resources professional at the Board 
identifies the necessary information that must be collected from the 
new hire, which is dependent upon whether the person will be starting 
as a full- or part-time employee, including a Governor or Board officer 
(Regular Hire) or starting as an intern (Intern Hire), or whether the 
Regular Employee is transferring from another federal agency (Federal 
Transfer). The new hire is then sent an email asking him or her to 
provide the information described below through the New Hire Portal 
prior to their official start date.
    The New Hire Portal is broken out into different sections and each 
section corresponds to the hardcopy forms that new employees previously 
filled out and provide to the Board during or after the first day of 
new employee orientation (NEO). Thus, the information collection 
involves a new hire electronically providing this personnel information 
and filling out the applicable sections of the New Hire Portal before 
their first day of orientation. The sections of the portal that each 
new hire is asked to complete electronically depends upon the type of 
position that the new hire has been offered at the Board.
    Legal authorization and confidentiality: The New Hire Information 
Collection is authorized pursuant to sections 10(3), 10(4), 11(l), and 
11(q) of the Federal Reserve Act, which provide the Board broad 
authority over employment of staff and security of its building.\1\ In 
addition, Executive Order 9397 (Nov. 22, 1943) authorizes Federal 
agencies to use an individual's social security number to identify 
individuals in agency records.
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    \1\ 12 U.S.C. 243, 244, 248(l), and 248(q).
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    Providing information collected as part of the New Hire Information 
Collection is voluntary. However, if certain information requested as 
part of the New Hire Information Collection is not provided by the new 
hire, the hiring process cannot be completed.\2\
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    \2\ The voluntary provision of the following information is 
optional and is not required to complete the hiring process: 
Education information (e.g., name of educational institution, major, 
degree, year of graduation), race, ethnicity, and the identity of 
and relationship to any relatives who are also employed at the 
Board. Although a new hire is required to provide the name and 
contact information of one ``primary'' emergency contact, providing 
a ``second'' emergency contact is optional and is not required to 
complete the hiring process. A new hire can also voluntarily provide 
an alternative mailing address, if it is different from his or her 
current address. Lastly, although not required to complete the 
hiring process, information on dependents is required to obtain 
certain benefits (such as continuing health insurance benefits for 
the child or spouse of a new employee who is transferring from 
another federal agency).

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[[Page 60822]]

    Generally, information collected as part of the New Hire 
Information Collection may be kept confidential from the public under 
exemption 6 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which protects 
information that ``would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of 
personal privacy.'' \3\ However, the release of information such as the 
educational history of the new hire or the start date of employment 
would not likely constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal 
privacy and may be disclosed under the FOIA.
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    \3\ 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6).
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    Determinations regarding disclosure to third parties of any 
confidential portions of the information collection that are considered 
exempt under the FOIA will be made in accordance with the Privacy 
Act.\4\ Relevant Privacy Act statements are provided when a respondent 
logs in to the portal and before the respondent is asked to provide any 
information. The Board may make disclosures in accordance with the 
Privacy Act's routine use disclosure provision, which permits the 
disclosure of a record for a purpose which is compatible with the 
purpose for which the record was collected.\5\
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    \4\ 5 U.S.C. 552a(b).
    \5\ 5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(7) and (b)(3)).
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    Such routine uses are listed in specific systems of records 
notices, which apply to this information collection and which can be 
found in: (1) The System of Records Notice for BGFRS-1, FRB-Recruiting 
and Placement Records, located at: https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/BGFRS-1-recruiting-and-placement-records.pdf; (2) the System of 
Records Notice for BGFRS-4, FRB-General Personnel Records, located at: 
https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/BGFRS-4-general-personnel-records.pdf; (3) the System of Records Notice for BGFRS-7, FRB--Payroll 
and Leave Records, located at: https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/BGFRS-7-payroll-and-leave-records.pdf; (4) the System of Records Notice 
for BGFRS-24, FRB--EEO General Files, located at: https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/BGFRS-24-eeo-general-files.pdf; and/or (5) 
the System of Records Notice for BGFRS-34, FRB-ESS Staff Identification 
Card File, located at: https://www.federalreserve.gov/files/BGFRS-34-ess-staff-identification-card-file.pdf.
    Current actions: On May 25, 2021, the Board published a notice in 
the Federal Register (86 FR 28107) requesting public comment for 60 
days on the extension with revision, of the New Hire Information 
Collection (FR 27). The revisions remove certain fields from the 
information collected on this form regarding direct deposits. The 
comment period for this notice expired on July 26, 2021.The Board did 
not receive any comments. The revisions will be implemented as 
proposed.

    Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, October 27, 
2021.
Michele Taylor Fennell,
Deputy Associate Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 2021-23804 Filed 11-3-21; 8:45 am]
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