[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 11, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1402-1405]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-28135]


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COURT SERVICES AND OFFENDER SUPERVISION AGENCY


 Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, as 
amended, the Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia (an 
independent entity established within the Court Services and Offender 
Supervision Agency (hereafter ``CSOSA'' or ``Agency'')) is issuing a 
public notice of its intent to create the Pretrial Services Agency for 
the District of Columbia Privacy Act system of records, the ``Employee 
Religious Exception Request Information System.'' This system of 
records maintains personal religious information collected in response 
to religious accommodation requests for religious exception from the 
federally mandated vaccination requirement in the context of a public 
health emergency or similar health and safety incident, such as a 
pandemic, epidemic, natural disaster or national or regional

[[Page 1403]]

emergency; and/or any other lawful collection of employee information 
or data that is necessary to ensure a safe and healthy environment for 
individuals who are occupying PSA facilities, attending PSA-sponsored 
events, or otherwise engaged in official business on behalf of the 
Agency. The system of records will assist the Agency in the collection, 
storing, dissemination, and disposal of employee religious exemption 
request information collected and maintained by the Agency, as 
referenced above.

DATES: This new system will be effective upon publication. New or 
modified routine uses will be effective February 10, 2022. Submit 
comments on or before February 10, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments identified any of the following 
methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for sending comments. The system of records 
will assist the Agency in the collection, storing, dissemination, and 
disposal of employee religious exception request information collected 
and maintained by the Agency, as referenced above.
     Email: [email protected]psa.gov.
     U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Office of General Counsel, 800 
North Capitol Street NW, Suite 702, Washington, DC 20001
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency 
name. All comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sheila Stokes, Senior Agency Official 
for Privacy, 800 North Capitol Street NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 
20002, [email protected] or phone number (202) 220-5797.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On September 9, 2021, the President issued Executive 14043, 
Executive Order on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Coronavirus 
Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees, requiring the COVID-19 
vaccination for all Federal employees, subject to such exceptions as 
required by law. On October 4, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task 
Force (``Task Force'') issued guidance to Federal agencies regarding 
collecting information for medical and religious accommodations. In 
order to meet the requirements of Executive Order 14043 and the Task 
Force recommendations, PSA is creating this system of records notice to 
permit the collection of information related to religious 
accommodations to the vaccination requirement. PSA maintains the 
``Employee Religious Exception Request Information System'' in a 
secured electronic file repository. PSA is committed to providing all 
staff (employees, detailees, contractors, consultants, interns, 
applicants, and volunteers), visitors, and occupants of its facilities 
with a safe and healthy environment. To ensure and maintain the safety 
of all occupants during standard operations and public health 
emergencies or similar health and safety incidents, such as a pandemic, 
epidemic, natural disasters or national and regional emergency, PSA may 
develop and institute additional safety measures that require the 
collection of employee religious exception information from the 
federally mandated vaccination requirement. PSA is also committed to 
complying with the Federal employee COVID-19 vaccination requirement 
established by Executive 14043 unless the employee presents appropriate 
information in support of a legally-required exception.
    PSA will collect religious accommodation requests for PSA staff 
(including employees, detailees, contractors, consultants, interns, and 
volunteers). Information will be collected, maintained, and disclosed 
in accordance with applicable law, regulations, and statutes, 
including, but not limited to, the authorities referenced herein. This 
newly established system will be included in the PSA inventory of 
record systems.

II. Privacy Act

    The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, embodies fair information 
practice principles in a statutory framework governing the means by 
which Federal agencies collect, maintain, use, and disseminate 
individuals' records. The Privacy Act applies to records about 
individuals that are maintained in a ``system of records.'' A ``system 
of records'' is a group of any records under the control of an agency 
from which information is retrieved by the name of an individual or by 
some identifying number, symbol, or other identifier particularly 
assigned to the individual. The Privacy Act defines an individual as a 
United States citizen or lawful permanent resident. Individuals may 
request access to their own records that are maintained in a system of 
records in the possession or under the control of PSA by complying with 
Privacy Act regulations at 43 CFR part 2, subpart K, and following the 
procedures outlined in the Records Access, Contesting Record, and 
Notification Procedures sections of this notice.
    The Privacy Act requires all federal Executive Branch agencies to 
publish in the Federal Register a description denoting the existence 
and character of each system of records that the agency maintains, and 
the routine uses of each system. The ``Employee Religious Exception 
Request Information System'' system of records notice is published in 
its entirety below. In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), PSA [through 
CSOSA] has provided a report of this system of records to the Office of 
Management and Budget and to Congress.

III. Public Participation

    You should be aware your entire comment including your personally 
identifiable information, such as your address, phone number, email 
address, or any other personal information in your comment, may be made 
publicly available at any time. While you may request to withhold your 
personally identifiable information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee we will be able to do so.

SYSTEM NAME:
    PSA, Employee Religious Exception Request Information System.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    This system is hosted in a facility maintained by the Court 
Services and Offender Supervision Agency at 800 North Capitol Street 
NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20004.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    The system is maintained by the Pretrial Services Agency for the 
District of Columbia Office of Information Technology located at 601 
Indiana Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The authority to collect this information derives from 5 U.S.C. 
8474, 5 U.S.C. 301, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq., 
44 U.S.C. 3101, Executive Order 13164 (July 28, 2000), and Executive 
Order 13548 (July 10, 2021).

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
    The primary purpose of the secured electronic file repository is to 
collect, maintain, use, and--to the extent appropriate and necessary--
disseminate employee religious exception request information collected 
by the Agency in

[[Page 1404]]

the context of the federally mandated COVID-19 vaccination requirement. 
The purpose of the secured electronic file repository is also to comply 
with Executive Order 14043 and applicable implementation guidance. PSA 
will use the information in processing religious accommodation requests 
and to determine the appropriate health and safety protocols for 
employees in the context of the federally mandated COVID-19 
vaccination. The secured electronic file repository enables PSA to log, 
track, and manage employee religious exception request information 
while leveraging technology to protect and secure the privacy of the 
records maintained in the system

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Individuals covered include but are not limited to PSA employees, 
detailees, contractors, consultants, interns, applicants, and 
volunteers.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The employee religious exception request information and records 
may contain some or all of the following records: Religious 
accommodation requests, including Request for a Religious Exception to 
the COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement form, notes, religious 
affiliation, or records made during consideration of requests, and 
decisions on requests. These records may contain general personal data, 
including but not limited to the employee's, detailee's, contractor's, 
consultant's, intern's, applicant's or volunteer's name, date of birth, 
religion, alias, home address, telephone number, age, and email 
address, telephone number, job title, email address, work address, and 
program office to which the employee is assigned.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Records in this system are obtained directly from the employee, 
detailee, contractor, consultant, intern, applicant, and volunteer, 
therefore, the accuracy is ensured by collecting the information from 
the source who may be required to certify under penalty of perjury that 
the information is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
552a (b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records or 
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside PSA as a 
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a (b)(3) as follows:
    A. To the appropriate Federal, State, or local agency responsible 
for investigating, prosecuting, enforcing, or implementing a statute, 
rule, regulation, or order, where alone or in conjunction with other 
information, a violation or potential violation of a civil or criminal 
law or regulation is indicated.
    B. To a Member of Congress or his or her staff on behalf of and at 
the request of the individual who is the subject of the record.
    C. To another Federal agency 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 proceeding, and such information is the subject of a 
court order directing disclosure or deemed by PSA to be relevant and 
necessary to the litigation.
    D. To the National Archives and Records Administration in records 
management and inspections.
    E. By PSA, in the production of summary descriptive statistics and 
analytical studies in support of the function for which the records are 
collected and maintained, or for related workforce studies. While 
published statistics and studies do not contain individual identifiers, 
in some instances, the selection of elements of data included in the 
study may be structured in such a way as to make the data individually 
identifiable by inference.
    F. To disclose information to the Department of Justice or in a 
proceeding before a court, adjudicative body, or other administrative 
body before which CSOSA is authorized to appear, when:
    1. PSA, or any component thereof; or
    2. Any employee of PSA in his or her official capacity; or
    3. Any employee of PSA in his or her individual capacity where the 
Department of Justice or PSA has agreed to represent the employee; or 
the United States, when PSA determines that litigation is likely to 
affect PSA 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 PSA is deemed by PSA to be relevant and 
necessary to the litigation.
    G. To disclose information to officials of the Merit Systems 
Protection Board or the Office of the Special Counsel, when requested 
in connection with appeals, special studies of the civil service and 
other merit systems, review of OPM rules and regulations, 
investigations of alleged or possible prohibited personnel practices, 
and such other functions as promulgated in 5 U.S.C. 1205 and 1206, or 
as may be authorized by law.
    H. To disclose information to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity 
Commission (``EEOC'') when requested in connection with investigations 
into alleged or possible discrimination practices in the Federal 
sector, examination of Federal affirmative employment programs, 
compliance by Federal agencies with the Uniform Guidelines of Employee 
Selection Procedures, or other functions vested in the Commission.
    I. To disclose information to the Federal Labor Relations Authority 
or its General Counsel when requested in connection with investigations 
of allegations of unfair labor practices of matters before the Federal 
Service Impasses Panel.
    J. To authorized contractors, vendors, grantees, or volunteers 
performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative 
agreement, or job for PSA or the Federal government that is in the 
performance of an official Federal duty relative to which the 
information is deemed relevant.
    K. To an appeal, grievance, hearing, or complaints examiner; an 
equal opportunity investigator, arbitrator, or mediator; and an 
exclusive representative or other person authorized to investigate or 
settle a grievance, complaint, or appeal filed by an individual who is 
the subject of the record.
    L. For Data Breach and Mitigation Response to provide information 
to appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when;
    (1) PSA suspects or has confirmed that there has been a breach of 
the system of records; (2) PSA has determined that as a result of the 
suspected or confirmed breach there is a risk of harm to individuals, 
PSA (including its information systems, programs, and operations), the 
Federal Government, or national security; and (3) the disclosure made 
to such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to 
assist in connection with PSA's efforts to respond to the suspected or 
confirmed breach or to prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
    M. To provide information to another Federal agency or Federal 
entity, when PSA determines that information from this system of 
records is reasonably necessary to assist the recipient agency or 
entity in (1) responding to a suspected or confirmed breach, or (2) 
preventing, minimizing, or remedying the risk of harm to individuals, 
the recipient agency or entity (including its information systems, 
programs and operations), the Federal Government, or

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national security, resulting from a suspected or confirmed breach.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
    None.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
    Records in this system of records are stored electronically. 
Electronic records are stored on CSOSA's secure network or cloud-based 
software using the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program 
(FedRAMP) approved platform.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
    Information covered by this system of records notice may be 
retrieved by the name of the individual.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
    PSA will work as may be necessary with the National Archives and 
Records Administration (NARA) to draft and secure approval of a records 
disposition schedule to cover the records described in this SORN, to 
the extent records pertaining to religious accommodation have not 
already been scheduled. Until any such records disposition schedule is 
approved by NARA, PSA will maintain, and not destroy, these records.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
    Records are protected from unauthorized access and improper use 
through administrative, technical, and physical security measures. 
Administrative safeguards within PSA include annual information 
security, privacy and record management training that are in place to 
ensure the records are not accessed, used or disclosed in an 
unauthorized manner. Technical security safeguards within PSA include 
restrictions on computer access to authorized individuals who have a 
legitimate need to know the information; required use of strong 
passwords that are frequently changed; multi-factor authentication for 
remote access and access to many CSOSA network components; use of 
encryption for certain data types and transfers; firewalls and 
intrusion detection applications; and regular review of security 
procedures and best practices to enhance security. Physical safeguards 
include restrictions on building access to authorized individuals, 
security guard service, maintenance of records in lockable offices and 
filing cabinets.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    Individuals requesting access to their individual records should 
send a signed, written inquiry to the System Manager identified above.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    Individuals contesting the content of records about themselves 
contained in this system of records should follow the Notification 
Procedure below.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    Individuals requesting notification of the existence of records on 
themselves or requesting access to their individual records must send a 
signed, written inquiry to Sheila Stokes, Senior Agency Official for 
Privacy, 800 North Capitol Street NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20002, 
[email protected] or phone number (202) 220-5797. The request 
envelope (or subject line) and letter should both be clearly marked 
``PRIVACY ACT INQUIRY.'' A request for notification must meet the 
requirements of 43 CFR 2.235.

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

HISTORY:
    None.

Sheila Stokes,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2021-28135 Filed 1-10-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3129-04-P