II.	FTC Personnel Systems of Records

FTC-II-1

SYSTEM NAME:

General Personnel Records–FTC.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:

Not applicable.

SYSTEM LOCATION:

Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. See Appendix III for other locations where records may be maintained or accessed.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:

Current Federal Trade Commission employees.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

Each category of records may include identifying information such as name(s), date of birth, home residence, mailing address, Social Security number, and home telephone number. This system includes, but is not limited to, the contents of the Official Personnel Folder (OPF) maintained by the FTC's Human Resources Management Office (HRMO) and described in the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Guide to Personnel Recordkeeping and in OPM's Government-wide system of records notice for this system, OPM/GOVT-1. (Non-
duplicative personnel records maintained by FTC employee managers in other FTC offices are covered by FTC-II-2, Unofficial Personnel Records–FTC.) Records in this system (FTC-II-1) include copies of current employees' applications for employment, documentation supporting appointments and awards, benefits records (health insurance, life insurance, retirement information, and Thrift Savings Plan information), investigative process documents, personnel actions, other personnel documents, changes in filing requirements, and training documents. Other records include:

a. Records reflecting work experience, educational level achieved, specialized education or training obtained outside of Federal service.

b. Records reflecting Federal service and documenting work experience and specialized education or training received while employed. Such records contain information about past and present positions held; grades; salaries; and duty station locations; commendations, awards, or other data reflecting special recognition of an employee's performance; and notices of all personnel actions, such as appointments, transfers, reassignments, details, promotions, demotions, reductions in force, resignations, separations, suspensions, approval of disability retirement applications, retirement and removals.

c. Records relating to participation in the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program and Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

d. Records relating to an Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignment or Federal-private exchange program.

e. Records relating to participation in an agency Federal Executive or SES Candidate Development Program.

f. Records relating to Government-sponsored training or participation in the agency's Upward Mobility Program or other personnel programs designed to broaden an employee's work experiences and for purposes of advancement (e.g., an administrative intern program).

g. Records connected with the Senior Executive Service (SES), for use in making studies and analyses of the SES, preparing reports, and in making decisions affecting incumbents of these positions, e.g., relating to sabbatical leave programs, training, reassignments, and details, that are perhaps unique to the SES and which may or may not be filed in the employee's OPF. These records may also serve as basis for reports submitted to OMB's Executive Personnel and Management Development Group for purposes of implementing the Office's oversight responsibilities concerning the SES.

h. Records on an employee's activities on behalf of the recognized labor organization representing agency employees, including accounting of official time spent and documentation in support of per diem and travel expenses.

i. To the extent that the records listed here are also maintained in the agency automated personnel or microform records system, those versions of the above records are considered to be covered by this system notice. Any additional copies of these records (excluding performance ratings of record and conduct-related documents maintained by first-line supervisors and managers covered by FTC-II-2) maintained by agencies at field or administrative offices remote from where the original records exist are considered part of this system.

j. Records relating to designations for lump sum death benefits.

k. Records relating to classified information nondisclosure agreements.

l. Records relating to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) concerning the starting, changing, or stopping of contributions to the TSP as well as the how the individual wants the investments to be made in the various TSP Funds.

m. Copies of records contained in the Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) data warehouse (including the Central Employee Record, the Business Intelligence file that provide resources to obtain career summaries, and the electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF)) maintained by OPM. These data elements include many of the above records along with additional human resources information such as training, payroll and performance information from other OPM and agency systems of records. A definitive list of EHRI data elements is contained in OPM's Guide to Human Resources Reporting and The Guide to Personnel Data Standards.

n. Emergency contact information for the employee (see, e.g., FTC Form 75), which is kept on the left side of the OPF.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:

5 U.S.C. 301, 1302, 2951, 3301, 3372, 4118, 8347; Executive Orders 9397, 9830, and 12107; and 5 CFR 293.

PURPOSE(S):

The Official Personnel Folder (OPF) and other general personnel records are the official repository of the records, reports of personnel actions, and the documents required in connection with those actions effected during an employee's Federal service. The personnel action reports and other documents, some of which are filed as long term records in the OPF, give legal force and effect to personnel transactions and establish employee rights and benefits under pertinent laws and regulations governing Federal employment.

The OPF is maintained for the period of the employee's service in the Commission and is then transferred to the National Personnel Records Center for storage or, as appropriate, to the next employing Federal agency. Other records are either retained at the agency for various lengths of time in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration records schedules or destroyed when they have served their purpose or when the employee leaves the agency. They provide the basic source of factual data about a person's Federal employment while in the service and after his or her separation. Records in this system have various uses including: screening qualifications of employees; determining status, eligibility, and employee's rights and benefits under pertinent laws and regulations governing Federal employment; computing length of service; and for other information needed in providing personnel services. These records and their automated or microformed equivalents may also be used to locate individuals for personnel research.

Temporary documents on the left side of the OPF may lead (or have led) to a formal action, but do not constitute a record of it, nor make a substantial contribution to the employee's long term record.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:

(1) Performance Related Uses

(a) To disclose information to any source from which additional information is requested (to the extent necessary to identify the individual, inform the source of the purpose(s) of the request, and to identify the type of information requested), where necessary to obtain information relevant to an agency decision concerning the hiring or retention of an employee, the issuance of a security clearance, the conducting of a security or suitability investigation of an individual, the classifying of jobs, the letting of a contract, or the issuance of a license, grant, or other benefit;

(b) To disclose to an agency in the executive, legislative, or judicial branch, or the District of Columbia Government in response to its request, or at the initiation of the agency maintaining the records, information in connection with the hiring of an employee; the issuance of a security clearance; the conducting of a security or suitability investigation of an individual; the classifying of jobs; the letting of a contract; the issuance of a license, grant, or other benefit by the requesting agency; or the lawful statutory, administrative, or investigative purpose of the agency to the extent that the information is relevant and necessary to the requesting agency's decision on the matter;

(c) By the agency or by OPM to locate individuals for personnel research or survey response, and 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 work force 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;

(d) To provide an official of another Federal agency information needed in the performance of official duties related to reconciling or reconstructing data files, in support of the functions for which the records were collected and maintained;

(e) To disclose information to officials of the Merit Systems Protection Board, including the Office of the Special Counsel, when requested in connection with appeals, special studies of the civil service and other merit systems, review of Office rules and regulations, investigations of alleged or prohibited personnel practices, and such other functions, promulgated in 5 U.S.C. 1205 and 1206, or as may be authorized by law;

(f) To disclose information to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 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 on Employee Selection Procedures, or other functions vested in the Commission by the President's Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978;

(g) To disclose to prospective non-Federal employers, the following information about a specifically identified current or former Federal employee:

(i) Tenure of employment;

(ii) Civil service status;

(iii) Length of service in the agency and the Government; and

(iv) When separated, the date and nature of action as shown on the Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (or authorized exception);

(h) To consider employees for recognition through quality step increases, and to publicize those granted. This may include disclosure to other public and private organizations, including news media, which grant or publicize employee recognition;

(i) To consider and select employees for incentive awards and other honors and to publicize those granted. This may include disclosure to other public and private organizations, including news media, which grant or publicize employee awards or honors;

(j) To disclose information to any member of the agency's Performance Review Board or other board or panel (e.g., one convened to select or review nominees for awards of merit pay increases), when the member is not an official of the employing agency; information would then be used for the purposes of approving or recommending selection of candidates for executive development of SES candidate programs, issuing a performance appraisal rating, issuing performance awards, nominating for Meritorious and Distinguished Executive ranks, and removal, reduction-in-grade, and other personnel actions based on performance;

(k) By agency officials for purposes of review in connection with appointments, transfers, promotions, reassignments, adverse actions, disciplinary actions, and determinations of the qualifications of an individual;

(l) By the Office of Personnel Management for purposes of making a decision when a Federal employee or former Federal employee is questioning the validity of a specific document in an individual's record; and

(m) As a data source for management information for promotion of summary descriptive statistics and analytical studies in support of the related personnel management functions of human resource studies; may also be utilized to locate specific individuals for personnel research or other personnel management functions;

(2) Training/Education Related Uses

(a) To disclose information to Government training facilities (Federal, State, and local) and to non-Government training facilities (private vendors of training courses or programs, private schools, etc.) for training purposes; and

(b) To disclose information to educational institutions on appointment of a recent graduate to a position in the Federal service, and to provide college and university officials with information about their students working under the Cooperative Education Volunteer Service, or other similar programs where necessary to a student's obtaining credit for the experience gained;

(3) Retirement/Insurance/Health Benefits Related Uses

(a) To disclose information to: the Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration, Department of Defense, Federal agencies that have special civilian employee retirement programs; or a national, State, county, municipal, or other publicly recognized charitable or income security administration agency (e.g., State unemployment compensation agencies) where necessary to adjudicate a claim under the retirement, insurance or health benefits programs of the Office of Personnel Management or an agency cited above, or to an agency to conduct an analytical study or audit of benefits being paid under such programs;

(b) To disclose to the Office of Federal Employees Group Life Insurance information necessary to verify election, declination, or waiver of regular and/or optional life insurance coverage or eligibility for payment of a claim for life insurance;

(c) To disclose to health insurance carriers contracting with the Office of Personnel Management to provide a health benefits plan under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, information necessary to identify enrollment in a plan, to verify eligibility for payment of a claim for health benefits, or to carry out the coordination or audit of benefit provisions of such contracts;

(d) When an individual to whom a record pertains is mentally incompetent or under other legal disability, information in the individual's record may be disclosed to any person who is responsible for the care of the individual, to the extent necessary to assure payment of benefits to which the individual is entitled;

(e) To disclose to the agency-appointed representative of an employee all notices, determinations, decisions, or other written communications issued to the employee, in connection with an examination ordered by the agency under:

(i) Fitness-for-duty examination procedures; or

(ii) Agency-filed disability retirement procedures;

(f) To disclose to a requesting agency, organization, or individual the home address and other relevant information concerning those individuals who, it is reasonably believed, might have contracted an illness, been exposed to, or suffered from a health hazard while employed in the Federal work force; and

(g) To disclose information to the Department of Defense, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the United States Coast Guard needed to effect any adjustments in retired or retained pay required by the dual compensation provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5532;

(4) Labor Relations Related Uses

(a) To disclose information to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (including its General Counsel) when requested in connection with investigation and resolution of allegations of unfair labor practices, in connection with the resolution of exceptions to arbitrator's awards where a question of material fact is raised and matters before the Federal Service Impasses Panel; and

(b) To disclose information to officials of labor organizations recognized under 5 U.S.C. 71 et seq. when relevant and necessary to their duties of exclusive representation concerning personnel policies, practices, and matters affecting working conditions; and

(5) Miscellaneous Uses

(a) To provide data to OPM for inclusion in the automated Center Personnel Data File;

(b) To be disclosed for any other routine use set forth in the Government-wide system of records notice published for this system by OPM, see OPM/GOVT-1, or any successor OPM system notice that may be published for this system (visit www.opm.gov for more information);

(c) To disclose information to a Federal, state, or local agency for determination of an individual's entitlement to benefits in connection with Federal Housing Administration programs; and

(d) To locate individuals for personnel research or survey response, and 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 work force 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.

See also Appendix I for other ways that the Privacy Act permits the FTC to disclose system records outside the agency.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:

None, except as authorized under 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(12) when trying to collect a claim of the Government. See Appendix I.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

STORAGE:

Records may be maintained on standard legal-size and letter-size paper, and in electronic storage media such as personnel system databases and .pdf forms.

RETRIEVABILITY:

Records are indexed by employee name.

SAFEGUARDS:

Access is restricted to agency personnel or contractors whose responsibilities require access. Paper records are maintained in lockable rooms or file cabinets. (In addition, FTC HRMO offices are in a locked suite separate from other FTC offices not generally accessible to the public or other FTC staff.) Access to electronic records is controlled by "user ID" and password combinations and/or other appropriate electronic access or network controls (e.g., firewalls). FTC buildings are guarded and monitored by security personnel, cameras, ID checks, and other physical security measures.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:

The Official Personnel Folder (OPF) is retained by the Commission as long as the individual is employed with the Commission. The Commission maintains all OPFs according to the most current version of OPM's Guide to Personnel Recordkeeping. When the individual transfers to any Federal agency or to another appointing office, the OPF, with long-term medical records, if any, inserted in a separate envelope, is sent to that agency or office. Other medical records covered by this system (i.e., fitness-for-duty examinations) are considered temporary in nature. Such records, when not submitted to the OPM for retention in a disability retirement file (or submitted, but OPM), shall be destroyed no later than 6 months after closing action on the case or sooner at the discretion of the Commission. Other personnel-related medical records are covered by a separate OPM Privacy Act system of records notice, OPM/GOVT-10.

Long-term records. Within 90 days after the individual separates from the Federal service, the OPF is sent to the National Personnel Records Center for long-term storage. In the case of administrative need, a retired employee, or an employee who dies in service, the OPF is sent to the Records Center within 120 days. Destruction of the OPF is in accordance with General Records Schedule GRS-1. Folders are retained for 65 years from date of last separation from Federal employment.

Other records. These records are retained for varying periods of time. Generally they are maintained for a minimum of 1 year or until the employee transfers or separates.

Some records within the Commission's automated personnel records may be retained indefinitely as a basis for longitudinal work history statistical studies. After the disposition date in GRS-1, such records may not be used in making decisions concerning employees.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:

Director, Human Resources Management Office, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE; RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES; AND CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:

See Appendix II. Current FTC employees may also request access to their records directly through their designated FTC HRMO contact or managers, as applicable, and may be required to complete a written request form and to show identification to obtain access to their records.

Former FTC employees subsequently employed by another Federal agency should contact the personnel office for their current Federal employer. Former employees who have left Federal service and want access to their official personnel records in storage should contact the National Personnel Records Center, 111 Winnebago Street, St. Louis, MO 63118-4126.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:

Individual to whom the record applies and agency employees.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:

None.