80 FR 11241 - Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

POSTAL SERVICE

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 40 (March 2, 2015)

The United States Postal Service[supreg] (Postal Service) is proposing to modify a General Privacy Act System of Records (SOR) to support the sharing of employment and wage data with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for their Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. These data are used for the development of employment and wage estimates for over 800 occupations.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 40 (Monday, March 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11241-11242]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-04211]


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POSTAL SERVICE


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Postal ServiceTM.

ACTION: Notice of modification to existing system of records.

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SUMMARY: The United States Postal Service[supreg] (Postal Service) is 
proposing to modify a General Privacy Act System of Records (SOR) to 
support the sharing of employment and wage data with the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics (BLS) for their Occupational Employment Statistics 
(OES) program. These data are used for the development of employment 
and wage estimates for over 800 occupations.

DATES: These revisions will become effective without further notice on 
April 1, 2015 unless comments received on or before that date result in 
a contrary determination.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed or delivered to the Privacy and 
Records Office, United States Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW., 
Room 9517, Washington, DC 20260-1101. Copies of all written comments 
will be available at this address for public inspection and 
photocopying between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew J. Connolly, Chief Privacy 
Officer, Privacy and Records Office, 202-268-8582 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is in accordance with the 
Privacy Act requirement that agencies publish their systems of records 
in the Federal Register when there is a revision, change, or addition, 
or when the agency establishes a new system of records. The Postal 
ServiceTM has determined that one General Privacy Act System 
of Records should be revised to modify categories of records in the 
system, purpose(s), routine uses of records maintained in the system, 
including categories of users and the purpose of such uses, and 
retrievability.

Background

    Pursuant to agreements that will protect the use of Postal Service 
data, the Postal Service intends to provide the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics (BLS) with employment and wage data pertaining to USPS 
employees. These data are used in BLS's OES program and, in conjunction 
with data obtained from the Office of Personnel Management, are used to 
develop employment and wage estimates.
    The OES program produces employment and wage estimates for over 800 
occupations. These estimates include the number of jobs in certain 
occupations and estimates of the wages paid to with respect to those 
jobs. Through its program, BLS maintains a comprehensive source of 
regularly produced occupational employment and wage information 
available for the nation as a whole, for individual States, and for 
metropolitan areas. OES data is used to develop information regarding 
current and projected employment needs, job opportunities, job 
placement aids, and state education and workforce development plans. 
Jobseekers can use OES data to analyze occupational wages and cost of 
living data by U.S area. Employment and wage estimate data are also 
used by academic and government researchers to study labor markets and 
wage and employment trends. BLS is now developing occupational 
employment and wage estimates and is requesting USPS occupational data 
which includes occupational titles and occupational codes.

Rationale for Changes to USPS Privacy Act Systems of Records

    The Postal Service is proposing modifications to SOR 100.400. 
Categories of records is being amended to reflect that the Postal 
Service maintains a unique occupation code and an occupation title for 
each employee, as well as annual salary, hourly rate, and the Rate 
Schedule Code (RSC), which is used to identify an employee's pay type. 
Pay type refers to any kind of wage that an employer is allotting to an 
employee. This can include, but is not limited to, holiday pay, 
overtime pay, annual leave pay, sick leave pay, severance pay, etc. 
Purpose is being modified to permit the Postal Service to maintain 
annual salary, hourly rate, and pay type information for the purpose of 
statistical research and reporting. The Postal Service is also adding a 
routine use explaining that the disclosure of these data may be made to 
BLS for the development of occupational estimates for federal 
employees. Retrievability is being revised to indicate the data can now 
be retrieved by occupation code and/or occupation title.

III. Description of Changes to Systems of Records

    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a (e)(11), interested persons are invited 
to submit written data, views, or arguments on this proposal. A report 
of the proposed modifications has been sent to Congress and to the 
Office of Management and Budget for their evaluations. The Postal 
Service does not expect this amended system of records to have any 
adverse effect on individual privacy rights. The affected system is as 
follows:
USPS 100.400
SYSTEM NAME: Personnel Compensation and Payroll Records
    Accordingly, for the reasons stated, the Postal Service proposes 
changes in the existing system of records as follows:
USPS 100.400

SYSTEM NAME:
    Personnel Compensation and Payroll Records.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM
    [CHANGE TO READ]
    1. Employee and family member information: Names(s), Social 
Security Number(s), Employee Identification Number, date(s) of birth, 
postal assignment information, work contact information, home 
address(es) and phone number(s), finance number(s), occupation code, 
occupation title, duty location, and pay location.
    2. Compensation and payroll information: Records related to 
payroll, annual salary, hourly rate, Rate Schedule Code (RSC) or pay 
type, payments, deductions, compensation, and benefits; uniform items 
purchased; proposals and decisions under monetary awards; suggestion 
programs and contest; injury compensation; monetary claims for personal 
property loss or damage; and garnishment of wages.
* * * * *

PURPOSE
* * * * *
    [CHANGE TO READ]
    9. To support statistical research and reporting.

[[Page 11242]]

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS 
AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES
* * * * *
    [CHANGE TO READ]
    k. Disclosure of employment and wage data records about current 
Postal Service employees may be made to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
for use in their Occupational Employment Statistics program for the 
purpose of developing estimates of the number of jobs in certain 
occupations, and estimates of the wages paid to them.
* * * * *

RETRIEVABILITY
    [CHANGE TO READ]
    By employee name, Social Security Number, Employee Identification 
Number, occupation code, occupation title, or duty or pay location.
* * * * *

Stanley F. Mires,
Attorney, Federal Requirements.
[FR Doc. 2015-04211 Filed 2-27-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-12-P