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Equal Employment Opportunity Complaint Files.
Records in this system are covered
in conjunction with EEOC's government-wide system EEOC/GOVT-1.
None.
Civil Rights Center, OASAM, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20210. The Civil Rights Center maintains the primary
system of records. However, Regional Civil Rights Offices maintain copies of
complete or partial investigative reports and correspondence files, as well as
settlement agreements and informal complaint forms. A portion of these
complaint files are forwarded to and maintained in the Office of the
Administrative Review Board (ARB).
Individuals, classes of individuals, or representatives designated to
act on behalf of employees, former employees, or applicants of the Department
who have consulted with an EEO Counselor and/or who have filed a formal
complaint alleging discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex,
national origin, disability, age, and/or any basis covered by Executive Order
11478, as amended, because of a determination, decision, action, or the
non-action administered against them by a departmental official, and
individuals alleging reprisal for having previously participated in the EEO
process.
Information and/or documents pertaining to pre-complaint processing,
informal resolutions, formal allegations of discrimination, and investigations
of complaints of discrimination. These records contain complainants' names,
addresses, job titles and descriptions, dates of employment; agencies involved;
counselor's reports; initial and supplemental allegations; letters and notices
to individuals and organizations involved in the processing of the complaint;
materials placed into the record to support or refute the alleged decisions;
determination or actions taken; statements of witnesses; related
correspondence; investigative reports, instructions on actions to be taken in
order to comply with the provisions of a decision, opinions, recommendations,
settlement agreements, proposed and final decisions.
Executive Order 11478, as amended; Secretary's Order 2-81 and 3-96;
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e;
the Equal Pay Act, as amended, 29 U.S.C. §206(d); the Age Discrimination
in Employment Act of 1967, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 621; Sections 501, 504 and 508
of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 791, 794(a) and
794(d); the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. 1101; and 29 CFR Part
1614.
These records are used to process, investigate and resolve
discrimination complaints within the Department.
The records in the complaint file are classified in three categories:
correspondence, investigative, and transcripts. Records that are relevant and
necessary may be disclosed:
1. To the responding official (RO) consistent with the
instructions in EEOC's Complaint Processing Manual which provides that during
the investigative process the responding official shall have access to
documents in the correspondence file and the investigative file in which the
official is identified and charged with discrimination or other wrong-doing.
Names of and identifying information on persons other than the complainant and
the RO should be deleted from copies of the documents shown to the RO. If the
Department issues a final decision on the complaint rejecting the complainant's
allegations against the RO, the RO does not have access to the entire complaint
file. If the Department's decision concludes or implies impropriety on the part
of the RO, the entire complaint file, with names and identifying information
deleted where appropriate, must be made available to the RO. If the Department
takes or proposes adverse action or other disciplinary action against the RO,
only the records upon which the decision is based, without deletions, must be
made available for his or her review.
2. To Federal agencies with jurisdiction over a complaint,
including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the office of Personnel
Management, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Office of Special Counsel,
and the Federal Labor Relations Authority, for investigatory, conciliation or
enforcement purposes.
3. To a physician or medical official for the purpose of
evaluating medical documents in complaints of discrimination on the basis of
disability.
None.
Records are maintained in manual and automated files.
Manual files are indexed by complainant's name and by the office case
number. Automated files are retrieved by: office case number; complainant's
name; fiscal year; current status of complaint; region code; issue code; basis
code; agency code; class action; relief code; EOS identification; Investigator
identification.
Manual records are maintained in secured file cabinets or in restricted
areas, access to which is limited to authorized personnel. Automated files are
controlled by means of identification numbers and passwords known only to the
employees of the Civil Rights Center who are authorized to have access to such
files.
Records are retained for a period of four years after the final
disposition of a complaint, and then destroyed. An alphabetical record is kept
of open complaints by name of the complainant, giving the basis of the
complaint, the matter giving rise to the complaint, and the disposition.
Director, Civil Rights Center, OASAM, U.S. Department of Labor, 200
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20210.
Individuals or organizations designated to act on behalf of individuals
may write the system manager indicated above regarding the existence of records
pertaining to them pursuant to 29 CFR 71.2. The inquirers should provide, as
appropriate, their full name, the name of the employing agency and/or the
agency in which the situation arose, if different than the employing agency,
approximate date of filing complaint, region of complaint, complaint case
number, the kind(s) of action(s) taken against them, and a notarized signature,
or a notarized letter of consent when a person requests access on behalf of the
individual who is the subject of the file.
Individuals or organizations designated to act on behalf of an
individual wishing to gain access to records covered by the Privacy Act, shall
follow the guidelines prescribed by 29 CFR Part 71, summarized here under
"Notification procedures."
Individuals wishing to contest information in their files may, pursuant
to 29 CFR 71.9, shall write the system manager at the specified address above,
reasonably identifying the record pertaining to them, the information which is
being contested in that record, the corrective action(s) being sought, and the
reasons for the correction(s).
Individual to whom the record pertains; official documents relating to
the processing of a complaint, the informal and formal allegations, appeals of
departmental decisions; and respondent agency officials, employees, and other
witnesses.
Under the specific exemption provided by 5 U.S.C. 552a(k) (2), this
system of records is exempted from the following provisions of the Privacy Act:
(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H), and (I) and (f). Information from the
complaint file may be denied in anticipation of a civil action or proceeding,
in instances where premature release of documents could hamper the
decision-making process, where the release of personal information about
another employee may result in an invasion of personal privacy, and where
release of confidential statements could lead to intimidation or harassment of
witnesses and impair future investigations by making it more difficult to
collect similar information. Personal information about other employees that
are contained in the complainant's file because of its use as comparative data
such as: medical records, place and date of birth, age, martial status, home
address and telephone numbers, the substance of promotion recommendations,
supervisory assessments of professional conduct and ability, may be denied to
the subject when it could cause embarrassment and/or harassment to the other
employees.
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