SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
NOTICE OF SYSTEM OF RECORDS REQUIRED BY THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
System number: 60-0005
System name:
Administrative
Law Judge Working File on Claimant Cases, Social Security Administration,
Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Security classification:
None.
System location:
Local
hearing offices (See Appendix F for address information).
Categories of individuals
covered by the system:
Claimants ‑ title
II (Retirement and Survivors Insurance (RSI), and Disability Insurance (DI));
title XI (claimants subject to Professional Standards Review); title XVI
(Supplemental Security Income (SSI)); and title XVIII (Hospital Insurance(HI)).
Categories of records in the
system:
These files are
established in the hearing office as a record of actions taken on each
particular case. The file may contain copies of the Notice of
Hearing, Decision or Dismissal, and the Exhibit List when one is prepared, a
copy of congressional inquiries and responses thereto as well as copies of post‑adjudicative
material received and any responses made, but not official copies, which are
placed in claim folders. These files also usually contain working papers
such as notes taken during the hearing by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ);
case analyses prepared by hearing office employees; case file cover sheets and
other developmental and/or instructional sheets.
Authority for maintenance of
the system:
Sections 205, 1631(d)(1), and 1872 of the Social Security Act (the Act), as
amended.
Purpose(s):
This system is used to
reference the actions taken in a particular case at the hearing level.
The ALJ or hearing office staff uses the information to reply to future
correspondence.
Routine uses of records
maintained in the system, including categories of users and the purposes of
such uses:
Disclosure may be made
for routine uses as indicated below. However, disclosure of any
information constituting “returns or return information” within the scope of
the Internal Revenue Code will not be disclosed unless disclosure is authorized
by that statute.
1. To a congressional office in response to an inquiry
from that office made at the request of the subject of a record.
2. To the Department of Justice (DOJ), a court or other
tribunal, or another party before such tribunal when:
a) SSA, or any component
thereof; or
b) any
SSA employee in his/her official capacity; or
c) any SSA employee in his/her individual capacity where DOJ
(or SSA
where it is authorized to do so) has agreed to represent the employee;
or
d) the
3. To the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as necessary,
for the purpose of auditing
SSA's compliance with safeguard provisions of the IRC
of 1986, as amended.
4. Information may be disclosed to contractors and other
Federal agencies, as necessary, for the purpose of assisting
SSA in the efficient administration of its programs. We contemplate
disclosing information under this routine use onlyin situations in
which SSA may enter into a contractual or similar agreement with
a third party to assist in accomplishing an agency function relating to this system
of records.
5. Non-tax return
information which is not restricted from disclosure by Federal law
may be disclosed to the General Services Administration (GSA) and the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for the purpose of conducting records management studies
with respect to their duties and responsibilities
under 44 U.S.C. § 2904 and § 2906, as amended by NARA Act of 1984.
6. To student volunteers and other workers, who
technically do not have the status of Federal employees, when they
are performing work for SSA as authorized
by law, and they need access to personally identifiable information in
SSA records in order to perform their assigned Agency functions.
7. To Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies
and private security contractors, as appropriate, if
information is necessary.
(a) To
enable them to protect the safety of SSA employees and customers,
the security of the SSA workplace and the operation of SSA facilities, or
(b)
To assist investigations or prosecutions with respect to activities that affect such safety and security or
activities that disrupt the operation of SSA facilities.
Policies and practices for
storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, and disposing of records in the
system:
Storage:
Records in this system
are maintained in paper and/or electronic form.
Retrievability:
The records are indexed and
retrieved alphabetically by claimants' names in paper form and may be retrieved
by claimant name and social security number (SSN) electronically.
Safeguards:
System security is
maintained in accordance with the Systems Security Handbook. Access to
and use of both the paper and electronic records are limited to those persons
whose official duties require such access. All employees are instructed
in SSA confidentiality rules as part of their initial orientation
training. (See Appendix G for additional information relating to
safeguards SSA employs to protect personal records.)
Retention and disposal:
Paper records are destroyed
by shredding 2 years after final action was taken. Any electronic records
are deleted 2 years after final action was taken.
System manager(s) and address:
Associate Commissioner
Office of Hearings and Appeals Social Security Administration 5107 Leesburg Pike Falls Church, VA 22041
Notification procedure:
An individual can determine
if this system contains a record pertaining to him/her by writing to the
hearing office (see Appendix F for address information).
An individual can determine
if this system contains a record about him/her by writing to the systems
manager(s) at the above address and providing his/her name, SSN or other
information that may be in the system of records that will identify
him/her. An individual requesting notification of records in person
should provide the same information, as well as provide an identity document,
preferably with a photograph, such as a driver’s license or some other means of
identification, such as a voter registration card, credit card, etc. If
an individual does not have any identification documents sufficient to
establish his/her identity, the individual must certify in writing that he/she
is the person claimed to be and that he/she understands that the knowing and
willful request for, or acquisition of, a record pertaining to another
individual under false pretenses is a criminal offense.
If notification is
requested by telephone, an individual must verify his/her identity by providing
identifying information that parallels the record to which notification is
being requested. If it is determined that the
identifying information provided by telephone is insufficient, the individual
will be required to submit a request in writing or in person. If
an individual is requesting information by telephone on behalf of another
individual, the subject individual must be connected with SSA and the
requesting individual in the same phone call. SSA will establish the
subject individual’s identity (his/her name, SSN, address, date of birth and
place of birth along with one other piece of information such as mother’s
maiden name) and ask for his/her consent in providing information to the
requesting individual.
If a request for
notification is submitted by mail, an individual must include a notarized
statement to SSA to verify his/her identity or must certify in the request that
he/she is the person claimed to be and that he/she understands that the knowing
and willful request for, or acquisition of, a record pertaining to another
individual under false pretenses is a criminal offense. These procedures
are in accordance with SSA Regulations (20 CFR § 401.40).
Record access procedures:
Same as notification
procedures. Requesters should also reasonably specify the record
contents being sought. These procedures are in accordance with SSA
Regulations (20 CFR 401.40(c)).
Contesting record procedures:
Same as
notification procedures. Requesters should also reasonably
identify the record, specify the information they are contesting and state the
corrective action sought and the reasons for the correction with supporting
justification showing how the record is incomplete, untimely, inaccurate or irrelevant.
These procedures are in accordance with SSA Regulations (20 CFR 401.65(a)).
Record source categories:
Claimants, their
representatives, appropriate members of the public, SSA and other Federal,
State, and local agencies.
Systems exempted from certain
provisions of the Privacy Act:
None