Privacy Act of 1974; Amendment of a System of Records

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

Privacy Act of 1974; Amendment of a System of Records

AGENCY: Federal Labor Relations Authority.

ACTION: Notice of amendment of system of records to include new routine

uses; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(11)), the

Federal Labor Relations Authority is issuing notice of its intent to

amend the system of records entitled Pay, Leave and Travel Records

(FLRA/INTERNAL-15) to include new routine uses necessitated by the

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of

1996, Pub. L. 104-193.

DATES: Comments must be received no later than February 9, 1998. The

proposed amendments concerning routine uses will become effective as

proposed without further notice on February 9, 1998 unless comments

dictate otherwise.

ADDRESSES: Interested individuals may comment on this publication by

writing to Harold D. Kessler, Assistant to Executive Director, Office

of the Executive Director, Federal Labor Relations Authority, 607 14th

Street, N.W., Room 415, Washington, D.C. 20424-0001. All comments

received will be available for public inspection at that address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harold D. Kessler, at the address

given above or by telephone: (202) 482-6560.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Discussion of Proposed Additional Routine Use Necessitated by Pub.

L. 104-193

Pursuant to Pub. L. 104-193, the Personal Responsibility and Work

Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, the Federal Labor Relations

Authority (FLRA) will disclose data from its Pay, Leave and Travel

Records system of records to the Office of Child Support Enforcement,

Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and

Human Services, for use in the National Database of New Hires, part of

the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) and Federal Tax Offset

System, DHHS/OSCE No. 09-90-0074. A description of the Federal Parent

Locator Service may be found at 62 FR 51663 (October 2, 1997).

The FPLS is a computerized network through which states may request

location information from federal and state agencies to find non-

custodial parents and their employers for purposes of establishing

paternity and securing support. On October 1, 1997, the FPLS was

expanded to include the National Directory of New Hires, a database

containing employment information on employees recently hired,

quarterly wage data on private and public sector employees, and

information on unemployment compensation benefits. On October 1, 1998,

the FPLS will be expanded further to include a Federal Case Registry.

The Federal Case Registry will contain abstracts on all participants

involved in child support enforcement cases. When the Federal Case

Registry is instituted, its files will be matched on an ongoing basis

against the files in the National Directory of New Hires to determine

if an employee is a participant in a child support case anywhere in the

country.

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If the FPLS identifies a person as being a participant in a state child

support case, that state will be notified. Requests made by states to

the FPLS for location information will continue to be processed after

October 1, 1998.

When individuals are hired by the FLRA, either the FLRA or its

personnel/payroll system provider may disclose to the FPLS such

individuals' names, social security numbers, home addresses, dates of

birth, dates and states of hire, and information identifying the FLRA

as the employer. The FLRA or its personnel/payroll system provider may

also disclose to the FPLS names, social security numbers, and quarterly

earnings of each FLRA employee, within one month of the end of the

quarterly reporting period.

Information submitted by or on behalf of the FLRA to the FPLS will

be disclosed by the Office of Child Support Enforcement to the Social

Security Administration for verification to ensure that the social

security number provided is correct. The data disclosed by or on behalf

of the FLRA to the FPLS will also be disclosed by the Office of Child

Support Enforcement to the Secretary of the Treasury for use in

verifying claims for the advance payment of the earned income tax

credit or to verify a claim of employment on a tax return.

II. Compatibility of Proposed Routine Use Necessitated by Pub. L. 104-

193

The FLRA is amending its routine uses in accordance with the

Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)). The Privacy Act permits the

disclosure of information about individuals without their consent for a

routine use where the information will be used for a purpose that is

compatible with the purpose for which the information was originally

collected. The Office of Management and Budget had indicated that a

compatible use is a use that is necessary and proper. See OMB

Guidelines, 51 FR 18982, 18985 (May 23, 1986). Since the proposed uses

of the data are required by Public Law 104-193, they are clearly

necessary and proper uses, and, therefore, ``compatible'' uses under

the Privacy Act's requirements.

III. Effect of Proposed Change Necessitated by Pub. L. 104-193 on

Individuals

The FLRA will disclose information under the proposed routine uses

only as required by Pub. L. 104-193 and as permitted by the Privacy

Act.

Disclosure will be made by the FLRA or its personnel/payroll system

provider.

IV. Other Changes

The FLRA is making another change required to update the system of

records. Specifically, the notice also amends the routine uses to add a

new routine use for the disclosure of information to the FLRA's

personnel/payroll system provider.

As required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) of the Privacy Act, the FLRA has

sent notice of this amended system of records to the Office of

Management and Budget, as well as to the Senate Committee on

Governmental Affairs, and to the House of Representatives Committee on

Government Reform and Oversight.

Accordingly, the Pay, Leave and Travel Records (FLRA/INTERNAL-15)

system notice originally published at 45 FR 85316, 85331, (December 24,

1980) and amended most recently at 60 FR 50202, 50203 (September 28,

1995) is further amended as follows:

FLRA/Internal-15

* * * * *

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES

OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:

These records and information in these records may be used:

* * * * *

p. To disclose information to appropriate offices and agencies that

are under an agreement with the Federal Labor Relations Authority to

prepare pay, leave and travel records, to meet government payroll

recordkeeping and reporting requirements, and to retrieve and supply

payroll and leave information as required by the Federal Labor

Relations Authority.

q. To disclose the names, social security numbers, home addresses,

dates of birth, dates of hire, quarterly earnings, employer identifying

information, and state of hire of employees to the Office of Child

Support Enforcement, Administration for Children and Families,

Department of Health and Human Services, for the purpose of locating

individuals to establish paternity, establishing and modifying orders

of child support, identifying sources of income, and for other child

support enforcement actions as required by the Personal Responsibility

and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (Welfare Reform law, Pub. L.

104-193).

* * * * *

Dated: January 5, 1998.

For the Authority.

Solly J. Thomas,

Executive Director, Federal Labor Relations Authority.

[FR Doc. 98-472 Filed 1-7-98; 8:45 am]

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